Elemental Flames
by Astral-Blaze
Summary: The flames within me has grown stronger because of Solaris, the Eternal Sun God, but not one minute goes by without my mind crossing his gorgeous face. I saw him in my dream, he saved me from Nega torturous hands. Darkness's upon us, the darkest creature of them all has returned and only love can stop him. But we're just friends, yet I want us to be more. .:Silvaze:. (Silver/Blaze)
1. A Book of Adventures

**_Author's note: The beginning of this story can be a bit cheesy at times. But please keep reading because the writing and the story itself becomes better along the way. However, I will rewrite some of the first chapters for a better experience to you dear readers._**

_**IMPORTANT! This story is in the process of being rewrote. I am sorry for the delay and for people who enjoy this story, but I just can't move on with this story until the entire beginning is up to date. Besides, the characters personalities are too OOC (Out Of Character) for my taste, especially when it comes to Blaze. Thank you for understanding.**_

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><p><strong>Elemental Flames<strong>

_Chapter 1 - A Book of Adventures_

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><p>Sigh.<p>

It was all I could do now. Packing my stuff, preparing to leave Solaria for maximum a month to take part in the Festival of the Sun in Soleanna. I have tried it before. Last year and the year before that. It was okay. I enjoyed it, really. But I can't lie and say that everything was a blast. It was a little bittersweet. Being there reminded me about my last adventure with Silver.

"Silver…" The name slipped past my lips

My best friend I have ever had. Just thinking about him hurts. I miss his sweet kindness; I miss his face, his way of helping people he hardly know, his determination, but most of all, I really miss his total naïve nature. His naivety is what I really like about him.

My life has gotten harder after I had to leave him. I wish I could just see him once more. See his warm smile that always made me smile. However, I don't think I can. After sealing Iblis, the Flames of Disaster, inside my soul, I had to seal myself in another dimension and leave Silver behind.  
><em><br>'At least his dimensional timeline is now no longer a devastated place to live in.'_

I shook my head. Thinking about him will only make my situation worse.

Walking around my room to get the last few supplies, I tripped over a small sky blue box with glittering silver lines. The box was the exact same one I got on my 18th birthday. It was a present from Silver to me, which Sonic delivered for him since he didn't know how to give it to me, or how to enter the Sol Dimension for that matter - let alone knowing that I was in my home dimension - but I somehow forgot why I had placed it aside.

Curiously, I picked the box up, sat on my bedside and opened the little box. What lay inside it made me shatter a little tear of pure happiness, but a smile still found its way to my lips.

Carefully, my hands got down there and up came a picture, in a bluish-purplish picture fame, of Silver and I as 9 and 10 years old. He is the oldest between us, with only 4 months.

I placed it on my bed side table. My smile was still there and as I was about to put the box aside, something glittering caught my eye.

Under where the picture was, lay a very cute and beautiful golden charm bracelet. Putting it in the Palm of my hand, is saw five individual charms spread equally along the chain, all with a meaning. One was in the shape of a lit flame, signalling my powers. The next was a crown, reminding me I was royalty. The third was a snowflake, signalling our first winter where we first met. The fourth charm was a B, the first initial of my name. The last charm was two hearts linked together, with a diamond dangling in the middle.

"What does the last charm signal? I don't think it's because he likes me that way…"  
><em><br>'Even though that would be wonderful.'_

My cheeks got a soft shade of pink and my heart pumped like crazy at the mere thought about him and me being together.

I shook my head the second time. I was daydreaming once again. _'N__o! Be realistic, Blaze! Silver would never fall for you. He is... just a friend.'_

I let a sad sigh out as I put the charm bracelet around my wrist. As I let go of it and let it dangled, I couldn't do anything as a small smile spread across my face. However, it didn't last for long.

Thinking about him is often making me sad, so I walked over to my desk and pulled out the top drawer. In it was some things I liked to look at when I was sad. There were some paper, pencils and some clothes sketches, since I liked to design new clothes to me and my friends. Some songs I have been working on. People often say I have a beautiful singing voice, once they caught me red handed.

It makes me blush in embarrassment just the thought of it. In frustration, I took everything at the top of my own stuff out and pressed it down in my trashcan.

Sighing out, I continued searching for something. One thing down here should make me think of something else then Silver.

There. I did it again. Withoug knowing it, I glanced over my shoulder to the picture on my table. How much I just want to feel his embraces again.

Shaking my head and clenching my eyes, I went my attention back to the top drawer of my desk.

What I found did make me smile. At the top, I spotted Amy's recipe on her favourite fortune cookies, which I admit, is my favourite as well. Cream's self made stuffed Chao and her drawings of flowers and her friends were just underneath. Funny I didn't see the chao before Amy's recipe. But I did take them out anyway and tapped the drawings to my wall. The stuffed chao...

_'Where should I put you?' _

Above my head, a bulb lightened up. I jumped on to my bed and placed the stuffed animal between my blue, light green, and lilac pillows, where my brown teddy bear was there also - yeah, I sleep with a teddy bear - and my... my Silver plush.

My jaw dropped slightly and I looked down at my crystal blue quilt. Beneath it was a white normal cover. But that's unimportant. Thinking on white just makes me think of _him_.

I had to force my eyes away from the plush very hard. Pushing myself backwards to the end of my bed, I looked down in the drawer again. I didn't had any smile on and I dried my moisty eyes off.

Looking down, I saw some glittering jewellery that Rouge gave me. A small smile appeared. Taking some of them up, I remember how she, reluctantly, gave me this little box of three pairs of beautiful emerald earrings. One being lilac surrounded by silver crystals, another being blue with silvery small diamonds surrounding the main colour. The last was redish with gold surrounding this one though.

A small giggle escaped me And I shook my head. To my left, at the end of my room near my balcony, I could see my reflection where I am leaning over my desk. I took the earings up and looked at the mirror to see which one suited me the best. The red was too much, not fitting my clothes, the lilac was too much alike my fur plus, the silvery colour surrounding it made my heart pump too fast at the thought the it reminded of me and Silver. So yeah, it's not too difficult what I choosed.

Turning my head, I thought I looked a bit pretty with these earings and a big smile appeared on my lips. Sometimes I found myself silly being girly.

Looking back into the drawer! I found Tails' Emerald Radar,, in which has been so useful for me whenever I lost one or two of the Sol Emeralds. Usually, I can feel when they are near but out on the open water - sometimes they scatter all over the Sol Dimesnion - it's very useful to have such a handy device. It will be safe where it already is.

Beside it, was the keys to my water bike Marine made for me. Funny how things are at times, because my water bike is a marine colour. She is so creative.

Last in the drawer was a fake yellow Chaos Emerald that Knuckles gave me. He told me that it would be useful whenever I traveled through dimensions. Though this emerald reminded me about how our first meeting went when Knuckles thought that the Sol Emeralds I held was the Chaos Emeralds.

"Hehe. Just remembering how I had to punch him to make him stay quiet." I giggled, as I remembered how much they all had helped me.

My mind was totally off Silver. Seeing all these things that all my friends had given to me on my last birthday, was just enough to make me stop thinking about him all the time.

As I placed the fake Chaos Emerald back into the drawer, I noticed a book. I took it out and it was the book Sonic gave me at my said; _Sonic - All the Adventures that I had with my friends._

I did not read it nor did I really look through it at the party, because Sonic was still the one who gave me the bracelet and the picture. But he was just delivering Silver's present to me. And there was a lot of other stuff we did at the party and other gifts I got, playing a few games and all. Funny enough, then it was mostly Amy and Marine who planned on the party. I just said what I didn't want at it.

Sitting on the bedside, I opened the book slowly. The info of the adventures he had was on the first page.

_**1) The first adventure I had against Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik**_

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><p><em><strong>2) Fight against Metal Sonic and saving Amy Rose<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>3) My first meeting with Miles "Tails" Prower<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>4) Knucklehead's hiding game<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>5) An Ocean of Chaos<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>6) Project: Shadow and the ARK<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>7) The fight against Metal Overlord<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>8) A devastated future &amp; the fall of a Hero<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>9) A fire Princess and her Quest<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>10) Friends of the future and a mad descendant<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>11) In another dimension<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>12) The future is ruined. Again!<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>13) The Arabian Nights<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>14) Knuckles isn't the only Echidna alive<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>15) Turning into a Werehog<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>16) King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table<strong>_

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><p>Seems like the eighth chapter caught my attention the most. Of course, the ninth chapter made me realise it was about me, but still. That chapter... Ugh, I don't want to be reminded of the end.<p>

I flipped the page. My eyes widened at an unexpected event. The book... It was showing me how Sonic ran over the hill and speeded through this greenish zone. Like a movie.

"Wow." I was speechless. I never thought Sonic had this kind of technology in his time. But even though that did make me very curious and confused, then I end ignoring it.

As I went through the first couple of stories, someone rushed into my room. That someone, was, of course, Marine the Raccoon.

"Ey, Blaze. 'Ow's it going, mate? What cha seeing?"

"Marine, how many times have I told you to knock on the door before you enter?" I said as I lay on my stomach on the bed. Gazing over at the raccoon, I noticed she was acting slightly nervous, sweat dropping too honest.

"Whoopsie. Sorry mate. But I was gonna see 'ow you was." She explained. Once her eyes opened and she saw the story moving by as a movie, her excitement returned. "But what cha looking at? It looks like a storybook that shows ya what is happening!"

I sighed and stroke my hand over my head. "It is."

"Can I look together with ya? Please!"

Just looking at Marine with the puppy eyes she made, I replied groaned. I tried my hardest dismissing her but she... gosh, she look so cute. I groaned highly.

"Okay, but be quiet. I myself want to hear about Sonic's adventures."

"Yippee! Thank ya mate!" She said as she jumped up on my bed and lay beside me.

As she did this, I flipped the page to go to **chapter 5 - An Ocean of Chaos.** Sonic didn't joke with the title. Doctor Eggman released this Chaos creature and it was made purely out of water! Marine and I were shocked to see this "thing" alive.  
>It was really exciting though. The whole story where they collected the emeralds and tried their best defeating Chaos every time he transformed. And the near end of the story, oh Marine couldn't stop bouncing up and down when Sonic turned into Super Sonic and fought Chaos' final state, Perfect Chaos. And how the heck Sonic managed to attach music to this book is beyond my knowledge. What most annoyed me, however, was that Marine would not stop cheering for Sonic and that she shouted to him when he defeated Chaos.<p>

I flipped the page to go to **chapter 6 - Project: Shadow and the ARK.** It was here when Sonic and Shadow faced each other for the first time. It was very epic the second time they faced each other. It was a fight in the jungle on Prison Island, after Sonic had escaped the prison. Eventually, Eggman stopped the fight by shouting into Shadow's communicator that the entire Island would blow up in any minute.  
>Sonic was running around the island to get the others before it was too late. Meanwhile Shadow was heading back to the prison where Rouge was locked inside along with the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow got there and Chaos controlled both of them out of there and onto the ARK.<br>When Sonic and his friends found out that Eggman was on Space Colony ARK, they headed out there to stop his plans. However, as soon as they got there, Eggman captured Amy and threaten Sonic that he would kill her if he didn't gave him the last Chaos Emerald. Sonic placed the fake emerald where Eggman told him to put it, but was then trapped inside a space capsule and Eggman tricked Tails to tell him that Sonic had the fake emerald while Tails had the real one. Eggman then send Sonic down to Earth, the capsule exploded, and everyone thought that Sonic was dead by the time.  
>However, he wasn't. He used the fake emerald to Chaos Control himself out in time.<p>

Marine and I gasped as we saw the capsule Sonic was in exploded. However, we both let a relived sigh out when we saw Sonic was okay, and told the others that he had used the fake emerald to Chaos Control himself out.

At the sight of the fake emerald, my eyes glanced over to my desk. The top drawer was closed but underneath it, was the exact same emerald Sonic used to warp himself out of that capsule. How funny things up ending like.

But anyway. Eggman placed the last Chaos Emerald in the Eclipse Cannon. However, as he was, supposed, to fire the cannon, a monitor with Dr. Gerald Robotnik, Eggman's grandfather, popped up and he told them all that the ARK would crash into the planet, taking many innocent lives. Everybody agreed to stop the ARK from crashing into the planet. Well, everybody except Shadow. And Amy too could not help; she just wasn't allowed to go with the others. But she felt that she needed to help them, and as she saw Shadow stand near the window and looking down to Earth, she decided to convince him that not all people are bad. Most of them are good. That is when Shadow remembered his true promise to his friend, Maria, was. He thanked Amy for the help of remembering his lost memories and raced off to help the others. As he found them, they were about to fight the Biolizard, the Ultimate Lifeform prototype, but Shadow took over and "defeated" it. However, that was only its first phase. It attached itself onto the ARK and pulled it towards Earth. Sonic and Shadow then turned Super and fought the Biolizard's last phase.

Marine literally jumped on my bed while shouting, "GO SONIC! GO SHADOW! Beat the living crap out of that thing!"

"Marine, be quiet!" I shouted at her. lying on my side as my amber eyes shot daggers at the young girl.

"Whops! Sorry Blaze." She said a little embarrassed, sweat dropping while scratching her neck with slight closed eye. I just rolled my eyes and returned to the story.

Moving on. They fought the Biolizard out in space and defeated it. But it had a price. Shadow sacrificed himself to stop it. It was a bittersweet moment for both of us.

"Oh, no! Is Shadow dead?! But that can't be true! He is the, what was it, the Ultimate Life force, or was it Lifeform? But he just can't be…"

"Wow, just calm down Marine! I'm sure he's not dead. I mean, I know he is not. I have met him. Remember? He and Metal Sonic arrived in this dimension and we found him out on the sea, right?" I said as I tried to make Marine relax a little bit.

"Oh, of course! Captain Marine never forgot that grumpy meat head." She replied with annoyance. I giggled as I nuzzled her head.

"Exactly. Now, you want to continue hearing more?" She looked over with me, surprised that even asked her that.

"What's in ya mind, fishbowl?! Of course I wanna 'ear more!" She said eagerly and flipped the next page herself.

**Chapter 7 - The fight against Metal Overlord.**

Looks like I was right. If you see this story from the Team Dark side, then Shadow is in a capsule, which Rouge finds in Dr. Eggman's secret base. Unfortunately, he has amnesia and does not remember one thing from his past. The Team Dark members are Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega. The leader of the team was Rouge.

However, that was just a little side story. The "real" story was seen from Team Sonic's P.O.V.

While running around on his own, Sonic meets Tails and Knuckles in the Tornado 2. They reveal that they had received a letter from Doctor Eggman telling them of a new ultimate weapon that will be ready within three days to help him in conquering the world and challenges Sonic and his friends to stop him, if they can. Sonic, competitive as ever, accepted the challenge. Unlike Tails, who was disturbed by the message and unsure what would happen, Knuckles was confident that there was nothing to worry about. Sonic, however, told them that he would not miss this kind of adventure and the three heroes teams up together once again to foil Eggman's plans.  
>After two "levels", they receive an emerald and then defeats Eggman in the Egg Hawk. They then save a city under the control of Eggman, getting another emerald. Next, they encounter Team Rose, which Amy as always, wanted Sonic to marry her, but Team Sonic fights them and beats them. After that, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles battle in Casino Park, with 24 more hours. Then they defeat Eggman again in the Robot Carnival and enter Rail Canyon. They then realize that the Eggman they fought was a fake, and that the real Eggman did this to stall for time as the fleet of his battleships filled the skies. However, Sonic and Co. did not realize that Neo Metal Sonic was copying their data.<p>

"What?! A fake Eggman?! But 'ow's that possible?!" Marine exclaimed.

"I don't know. I am just as clueless as you are… Wait! What is... that?" I said as I saw the fake Eggman turned into a puddle and a robot emerged from it. These graphics sure were amazing because it felt like I saw it happening right in front of me in person.

"Eww! What is that thing?" A disgusted Marine said.

"Beats me. But I'm not sure if I want to know."

We continued with the story.

After beating two more "levels", they encounter Team Dark, who provoked the heroes in fighting them. They defeat the trio of anti-heroes and advance through a haunted castle. Once more, they beat Eggman, this time in the Robot Storm. They boarded the Egg Fleet and finally defeated Eggman in the Egg Emperor. After they blew up the fleet, Amy finds Sonic and he runs away while both Tails and Knuckles looks on.

"HAHAHAHAA! THAT'S JUST SO HULARIUS! HAHAHA!" Marine was literally on the floor and almost couldn't breathe. She held to her stomach as she rolled around, tears escaping her eyes.

"Okay, okay. Easy Marine. We don't want you to pass out or something." I giggled, trying not to burst out laughing myself.

"Did ya see 'is face? Blimey, that was just priceless! Hahahaa."

"Yeah, yeah. But I think it's enough for today. Remember, I got to leave tomorrow and didn't you say that you wanted to come with me?"

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. Luckily, I, Captain Marine, has already packed my stuff and is ready to leave at any time." Marine said proudly. I giggled.

"Okay, then you should get ready to go to bed soon. We have a long journey tomorrow." I said as I began to yawn a bit.

"Aww, but Blaze. Can't I finish hearing this story? Please!" She said while giving me the puppy eyes again. I groaned.

"Okay. But come back with my book when you are done, deal?"

"Yay! You gotcha self a deal mate!" She took the book and rushed out of my room to get to her own.

I sighed.

"Marine… You still haven't changed a bit."

I chuckled at my last remark. I got off my bed and walked into my bathroom to take a shower.

...

"Whoa! So that's the Metal Sonic punk, eh? Pfft." The young raccoon girl said as she walked down the hallway to her room. "Nothing that Captain Marine couldn't had handled I guess. Uhhhh… Sonic is turning Super again. With Tails and Knuckles? Riper! Yeah that's right you guys! Beat the crap out of him!"

Walking into the room, she placed Blaze's book onto her bed and took out her pyjamas. As she changes into the green t-shirt and black shorts, the story finished.

"Aww… Now I have to give Blaze her book again." She groaned. "Wait! Captain Marine, you are brilliant! I can just see a tiny bit of the next chapter and then give Blaze 'er book back. After all she is in 'er bathroom."

She smirked and jumped up onto the bed and flipped the page. However, there was standing a little side note before the chapter began.  
><em><br>'Well, I don't like reading, and I can see Blaze's name is in this note, so I guess it's for her.' _She thought and ignored the note.

**Chapter 8 - A devastated future & the fall of a Hero **

She flipped the page. What it showed her was nothing that she would ever had expected it to be. It showed her a city in ruins and the sky was all dark and cloudy. And it thundered too. Marine's mouth was opened up in shock. However, the raccoon came to herself when she heard the narrator speaking. But it wasn't Sonic's voice she heard, and it was neither any other person she could think of. No, it was silver hedgehog who was floating over the lava that filled the city streets. A cyan aura surrounded him, making him a moving star above the destroyed city. He was the one who was speaking.

_"This world was devastated before I was born. A harsh, bleak place, where we live in eternal darkness."_

_'Wow, poor world.' _Was all Marine could think. She covered herself under her blanket, and her light was turned off, giving her a better view on what was going on.

_"Life is a struggle, and people live without hope. How did this happen? No one will answer me directly. But they always point… to the flames."  
><em>  
>A pillar of flames shot up from the lava river towards this mysterious hedgehog. He stopped floating forward and charged a bit of unknown teal energy in his palms before shooting it at the fire pillar, making it collapse into the lava where it belongs.<p>

The hedgehog continued to speak.

_"These flames. They burn away at my world, destroying everything in their path. They come from an eternal life form that we cannot truly defeat. The Flames of Disaster known as Iblis…"  
><em>  
><em>'Poor guy.'<em> She thought again and tucked the blanket closer to her, and holding captain Cruse in her arms. Just then, she heard a familiar voice.

_"Silver!"  
><span>_

_'So this guy's name is Silver, eh? Fitting name. But that other voice. It couldn't be… Could it?'_

The hedgehog jerked to the side where he saw a small lavender figure coming into view.

_"Blaze! What's wrong?" _

Fifteen-years-old Blaze the Cat, appeared on top of a rooftop and stopped to look up at Silver while pointing behind her.

_"He's appeared again."_

The hedgehog looked down at Blaze, then in the direction she was pointing at, then back to Blaze again and nodded while giving her a warm, caring smile. Charging up energy, Silver shot himself off in the direction she was pointing at. The feline let a sad sigh out. But just after she did this, she smiled and had some dreamy eyes before sprinting after Silver.

Marine closed the book, looking absolutely shocked.

"Blimey! That was Blaze! What in the world is she doing in this story?" She exclaimed and jumped off her bed with Blaze's book in her hand, sprinted out of her bedroom and ran down the hallway towards the princess' room. "I gotta show this to 'er!"

...

I had just finished my bath and had my pyjamas on already. It was a black dress with a golden flower on. My leggings were short and black coloured too, while my hair tie was light golden and collected my hair in a ponytail.

"Ah… Nothing but a nice warm shower can sometimes just make my day." I said as I let myself fall onto my bed with the back first.

_'Now I just need some sleep, and tomorrow Marine and I will-'_

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by Marine herself bursting into my room, causing me to fall off my bed in surprise.

"BLAZE! Blaze, you gotta see this, mate!" She almost screamed as she ran beside me while I just rubbed my head in an awkward position. I sat up probably.

"What is it Mari-"

"You're in this next story with a white hedgehog!"

My eyes blinked a few times. What the heck was she talking about? Is she already at the chapter where I entered Sonic's world? I was so confused that my eyes narrowed at the girl in front of me, blinking them in disbelief.

"W-What? What are you talking about?"

"Here! I'll show ya!" She said very quickly. She turned the lights off, sat down beside me, and opened the book quickly to show what she meant.

What she showed me, however. was something I definitely didn't wanted to see, nor being reminded about. I saw Silver floating over Crisis City. He was telling how Iblis had ruined his world. As the picture zoomed in on Silver, I reached out my hand to touch his face. But it was all just a hologram. I quickly pulled my hand back as I saw the image flicker and Marine looked in confusion at me. My hand reached my mouth.

_"Silver!"_

_"Blaze! What's wrong?"_

_"He's appeared again."_

How ironic things are, really. I noticed how Silver looked at me. At first he looked worried, then after he turned to face me the second time, he had a warm and caring smile upon his lips. And as he shoots off in the distant, I let a sad sigh out and smiled afterwards while looking after Silver with dreamy eyes before I sprinted after him.

I... I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up and dashed out of my room. I had to get away. Away from all these memories. Sprinted down the hallway as fast as I could, I camw to the forbidden area where the Sol Emeralds were held inside this secret chamber. Removing some green curtains on the wall, a blue hand scanning panel appeared and I placed my hand over it. It said this weird humming sound and I could feel it scanning. I entered the room and frantically looked around it to find what I was looking for. Eventually, I found it in the middle of the room. This big round platform was there and hovering over some wholes were the emeralds themselves. I ran over and grabbed my silver Sol Emerald. Sitting on a chair beside the somewhat table, I began sniffling while gazing at the grey concrete floor.

"Why? Why can't I be together with you?" I whispered to myself, with a shaking voice."Please, Silver. I need your help. More than ever."

As it has been before, a voice came from the emerald, though I could only hear it inside my mind. Good thing, because I didn't want anybody to hear what Silver would be saying.

_"Hey. Don't cry, Blaze. Everything will be okay, I promise. Just don't cry. I hate to see you cry and you know that."_  
><em><br>'How much I wish you would be here together with me.'_

Sniffling still, I felt my heart racing. My emotions were getting a bit out of hand as they always did when the subject landed on the white male hedgehog. My ears twitched.

"BLAZE! Where are you?"

I got my attention to the door. "Marine?" I said quietly. Apparently, I forgot to close the door after me.

_'I'm such an idiot!' _I thought and shuffled my feet close to the red chair. Light from a black flashlight appeared on the floor and it came closer and closer until the owner came to the open door. She glanced in in curiosity. The girl widened her eyes and dropped her flashlight. The sound of it hitting the hard floor did surprise me slightly.

"BLAZE!" Marine shouted, running over to me and… hugged me? She actually hugged me. "I'm so sorry if I hurt ya, mate. I didn't knew that you missed and cared for 'im so much."

My eyes widened. I turned my attention towards Marine, my hand on the emerald over my chest while the other was on the armrest. I was shocked, no surprised, of what she just said.

"W-What do you mean 'c-c-cared for him'?" I stuttered while having a small blush on my face, avoiding Marine's cereal eyes. "I-I miss him, yes. But that's only because he's the best friend I ever had." I said nervously as I kept flushing a soft shade of pink.

"Yeah, suuure. Just admit it. You like 'im, don't cha?" She teasingly said as she chuckled a bit and raised her eyebrows, her eyes half visible.

"I do not! As I said before, he's my best friend and that is why I miss him!" I snapped back at her.

"Then why are you holding the _silver_ Sol Emerald, eh? Hmm?" She mocked at me, staring deeply into my eyes.

I gulped and pushed myself a bit down in the seat. _'Darn. She's good.'_

Even though I knew I was caught red handed, I wouldn't admit that I actually loved Silver. I'll not give up that easily. However, my mouth seemed to have another opinion.

"Because every time I hold it, it feels like that he's right beside me!" I yelled at her. However, as I found out what I just said, I quickly turned my head away, hoping she wouldn't notice how mad I was blushing.

Marine was just standing there, with her mouth dropping.

"Uhmm…. I uhm…." She couldn't find the words she wanted use. But she didn't have the time to before I spoke.

"Just go away, Marine. Please. Leave me alone." I said very quietly. But she was still sitting there. I shot daggers at her, my eyes showing the flaming rage inside of them. "Didn't you hear what I said? I said, leave me alone!"

Marine jumped back in surprise. She stepped back as she saw my eyes flicking with the flames within me and it was getting out to my hands. I stood up, walking threatening towards the young girl I usually call my friend.

"N-No, Blaze. I-I can't... l-l-leave you like… t-this." She said with a little bit of fear in her voice. Okay, a lot of fear. Who wouldn't be if they saw a pyrokinetic princess walking so evilly towards them with flames in her hands?

"You… you're my friend… right?"

Those last words. They went right through me and into my mind. This one voice echoed inside me.

_"You're my friend... right?"_

"Silver." I whispered shakily.

The flicker in my eyes disappeared, being replaced by slow falling tears. I looked down at floor, then away, before collapsing to my knees. My hand turned into a fist on my leg while the tightened its grip around the white emerald. I let go of it and pressed my hands against my eyes. I began crying, which greatly surprised my young friend. She sat in front of me and brought me into a hug. _  
><em>

My hand got down to the emerald again and I watched as the tears just fell from my face. I felt so helpless, so hopelees, until I heard his voice speak to me again.

_"Shh. I'm here. Don't cry. Everything is going to be okay, Blaze. I promise. Just close your eyes and you will see."_ He spoke so softly, so caring. Even though I was confused about what he meant, I did as I was told to. After a few seconds with my eyes closed, everything became white.

And in front of Marine, an unconscious cat lay still, sleeping.

* * *

><p><em>...<em>

Everything around me was one colour. White. Only white. Turning around, it was just plain clean, not one thing stood out. My head began spinning around and my eyes began hurting.  
><em><br>'Where am I? What is this place?'_

"And what did Silver mean that I would 'see' that everything would be alright?" I thought aloud. Then I heard a voice. _His_ voice.

"Maybe if you look behind you, you will get the answer."

I slowly turned around to face him. He was wearing a teal chequered loose t-shirt with dark blue jeans and as footwear, instead of navy blue boots, he wore a pair of white and dark cyan sneakers. But he still wore his natural gloves.

I gasped under my breath, and took my hand to my mouth. My eyes grew wide as I just saw him, standing there with a small blush on his face. He was scratching his neck in... nervousness?

"Silver?" I removed my hand, of course, for him to hear it. It was just bearaly hearable, but he heard it and nodded.

I slowly walked over to him and placed my hand on his chest. I could touch him. He smiled to me as I widened my eyes in disbelief. He smiled so warmly, so friendly and so caring, as he always did. It was him. It really was him!

"Silver!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms around him and buried my face deep down in his soft chest fur, and hugged him while the tears streamung down my face. He hugged me back as tears slowly emerged from his eyes as well.

"Blaze." He whispered and closed his own yellow eyes.

He stroke through my fur with slow and soft moves, to make me relax. I started to cry a little more slowly and soon my crying was down to just snivels.

"There you go. You see. Everything is okay, Blaze. I am here with you. And I always will be." He spoke so softly again. A small tear escaped my eye and I placed my hands on his shoulders while burring my face a little deeper down in the soft fur.

"Please, don't leave me, Silver. I don't want you to go away. I don't… I don't want to be alone again." I said with a tearful voice.

"I will never leave you, Blaze. You have my word."

Just then, he placed a soft kiss on top of my head, to my and his own surprise. My eyes widened and a strong blush appeared on my white muzzles. I hugbed him tighter.

"You'll never be alone, Blaze. I will always be by your side. I promise."

That was the last thing I heard him say before everything around us went black and we slowly vanished from one another.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading this and remember to review. It really helps me a ton.<br>**  
><strong>Property to Astral-Blaze. Please, do not copy without permission.<strong>

_Trivia Time!_

_Edited a lot on this chapter. Really, it was kinda of bad before. Now it is only weird on some minimal points, but it is definitely better than how it was before all this editing. I have edited the second chapter as well, but it is not done yet. I added more to this chapter, around 2,000 words, and made it more me now. More how my writing style is and all. _

_As always, please review my work. I guess you guys know the importance of reviews. _

_Anybody excited for Sonic Boom? I certainly am. I wish I had a Wii U or 3DS at least. And why does the TV show already come to the US late this year, eatly 2015, while the rest of the world has to wait until next autumn?!_

_Katerina Oestergaard_


	2. New Mission

**Elemental Flames**

_Chapter 2 - New mission_

* * *

><p>Staring out, up on the black board, was several information we needed to write down. Sighing out, I ruffled around in my pencil case and found my pencil.<p>

Yeah, this school is a bit old school on technology. But so is many others. Researchers figured out that we students learn more without having an iPad or mini laptop in front of us; with other words, no electronic devices are allowed inside classes, not even having our phone bracelets on us.

Well, back to class. The pen moved ever so slowly over the paper as I kept glancing up on the board. A strange warmth down in my pocket, caught myself off guard. I narrowed my eyes slightly, my hand slowly slipping down into the blue pocket of my jeans.

Looking around, I made sure nobody was looking at me. Getting hold of the white emerald, I felt something familiar. _Heard _a familiar voice.

_"Please, Silver. Help me."_

My eyes shot wide open. My heard turned around. Nothing, that seemed to be a single clue to her. My hand got a bit out and I examined the emerald.

_'Blaze?'_

Inside my mind, no, inside the emerald it seemed, a picture popped up, showing the feline crying against a brown furred shoulder.

_'Hey, don't cry. I'm here. Everything is going to be okay, Blaze. I promise. Just… close your eyes and you will see.'_ I thought subconsciously and my eyes slipped behind the eyelids.

My closed eyes seemed to narrow in confusion, although it wouldn't be visible to others. For them, it just looked like I was annoyed by the teacher. Good thing I sat in the back end of the class then.

But still, the image of her crying just fastened inside my mind. I suddenly felt slightly dizzy and rested my head on my elbow.

Before anybody knew it, a silver hedgehog felt slowly asleep.

...

Beneath me, the floor was all white and clean; not a single spot of dirt was visible. And it was the exact same thing when I turned my head to the right, then to the left. Pure whiteness. And it hurt my eyes. I covered them because of the strong reflecting light. Where its origin came from, is beyond me.

"Where the heck am I?" I asked myself in confusion.

_'I wonder why I thought that thing to Blaze.'_

My biggest confusion was more where I was, of course. How did I get here? The first second, I feel the warmth from the emerald and sees the beautiful princess crying inside it, then I suddenly feel dizzy and sleepy, then _poof!_ I end here… in total nothingness.

Slowly and steady, I rose to my feet and looked around my surroundings. As before, nothing was there. I groaned in annoyance.

"Well, isn't this just lovely. How am I supposed to find a way back if I don't even know where I am? There is nothing here." I said loudly in frustration. I sighed out as I heard my voice echoing around me.

_'Well, I might as well take a look around. Not that I think I will meet someone, or something, here.'_ I thought and began to walk straight forward.

However, to my great surprise, I saw a lavender figure standing with her back turned against me in the distant. Of what I could see, she wore a black nightdress and black matching leggings on her purple furred legs. Her headband was light golden.

I narrowed my eyes, but I felt my heart quicken for an unknown reason. That's when I realized who this girl was and my eyes widened.

_'Blaze? No, it… it's impossible!' _I thought in disbelief. I took my hand over my eyes because of the light. Gosh, she looks so beautiful. Seriously, I began blushing when my gaze went further down her body. Man, she looks great. No! Shaking my head, I became as red as Eggman's jacket. Taking some deep breaths after I stopped up, I began walking again. Slowly. Very slowly.

When I was only a few 7 meters away from her, she began speaking.

"What did Silver mean that I would 'see' that everything would be alright?" She thought aloud.

Then it hit me and my feet stopped bringing me forward.

_'__This is what my thoughts were thinking. I… I can… talk with Blaze. I can see her again.'  
><em>

I sighed before I spoke to my long lost beautiful best friend and let my hand fall to my side. I swallowed my spit.

"Maybe if you look behind you, you will get the answer."

She turned around, quite slowly, to see me standing there, in a my clothes. Teal chequered loose t-shirt, dark blue jeans and as footwear, instead of navy blue boots, I wore a pair of white and dark cyan sneakers. But I still wore my natural gloves.

"Silver?" She said in disbelief and her eyes grew wider while her jaw dropped. Her arms where crossed in the nervous manner, as if she was trying to keep herself warm. Her hand reached her mouth as if she was gasping under her breath.

I slowly nodded my head as I kept staring at the beautiful and grown up Blaze. I remember why we were separated three years ago. Back then, I never told her about my true feelings for her. And I thought that I would never be able to see this beautiful pyrokinetic girl I oh loved so much, ever again. But there she stands, in what looks like her pyjamas and barefooted though, more beautiful than ever, with longer hair, taller, a nice gorgeous and… sexy body, and a face that shines more than the beautiful stars on the night sky.

A small blush crossed my peach muzzles as I gulped and rubbed my back neck. A small flicker underneath her black sleeves caught my attention, however, and I narrowed my eyes slightly in curiosity.

I didn't even notice that Blaze went closer to me, before I felt her hand against my chest. She stared deeply into my surprised golden eyes with her own amber ones.

Looking at her close up, I could see every beautiful detail on her face. Her perfect golden eyes, shining like topazes in the dark night; her gorgeous lilac fur, every one of her hair was cleaned of, not a single flaw was visible on her. Not that I think she would have one. She was, after all, an angel. Everything was so beautiful about her; it made me blush.

I sighed happily and smiled at the fire princess as I brought my hand up to her face, stroking her white cheek muzzle. The smile I made, and as I the princess felt my hand against her cheek, Blaze's eyes became as glass and she pulled back.

"Silver!" She said shakily before throwing her arms around me, burring her face deep down in my visible big fluffy white fur, and began to cry. She held tightly to me as if her life depended on it.

Seeing her like this made my heart shatter, yet at the same time it pumped faster as I figured that it was her. It really was her!

Slowly, my arms found their way around her soft warm body, and I hugged the lavender feline cat, stroking her back softly in order for her to calm down. A few tears managed to escape my eyes and landed on her purple head. I placed my hand on top of it and stroke through her fur with soft and slow moves by using my finger indexes.

She started to cry a little more slowly and soon her crying was down to just snivels. I kept stroking her head, and she kept her grip around me, though it did slightly loose it tightness.

"There you go. You see. Everything is okay, Blaze. I am… I am here with you. I always will be." I spoke softly to her and hugged her slightly tighter. She leaded her hands up to my shoulders and buried her face slightly deeper down in my soft, warm and comfortable fur.

"Please, don't leave me, Silver. I don't want you to go away. I don't… I don't want to be alone again." She said with a slight tearful, but low, voice. It was cracking again.

I shushed her as I pulled her closely to me, my lips slightly touching the top part of her forehead and my eyes closed.

"I will never leave you, Blaze. You have my word."

I then did something very unexpected. My lips came in contact with her forehead where my muzzle once was, and gave her a gentle, soft kiss.

The princess' eyes widened in shock and a strong blush appeared on her white muzzles. Still, she kept herself in my embrace, in fact, she tightened her grip around me.

"You'll never be alone, Blaze. I will always be by your side. I promise." I finally said to her, my eyes keeping their shut state.

That was the last thing I said to her, however. For an odd reason, I heard another weak voice calling me, and everything around us went black as we slowly vanished from one another.

"MR SILVER THE HEDGEHOG!"

The voice I heard was high and angry, and it belonged to none other than my teacher, Mr Corton the Fox. The high shout caused my eyes to shot wide open and my arms uncrossed from the table where I have been sleeping.

"Argh!" I shouted as I landed on the floor with a loud thump, my grip still around the Chaos Emerald. I quickly hided it down in my pocket. Some of my classmates giggled, mostly the girls, and others burst out laughing at my action. It didn't take too long before Mr Corton told the class to shut up. Literately.

His attention went back to me, who still sat on the floor, with an angry expression showing up in his face. I gulped and sighed mentally before standing up. I dusted my jeans off before making direct eye contact with the brown fox.

"Honestly, Silver. Just because you're a hero doesn't mean that you can take naps in class! You could at least look interested." He said with great annoyance.

I looked down at the floor in somewhat embarrassment and in somewhat anger. One, he had just ruined my moment with Blaze, and two; I don't see myself as a hero like that. I may be the one who helped to fight against Iblis and all, but I was never the one who made him disappear.

"Yes, sir. I apologize." I said politely in embarrassment though, still looking down as I sat back down on my seat. My teacher stared at me for a few more seconds, and I stared back, before he returned to his lesson.

One of the boys by the name of Chris, who was one of my friends and sat in front of me, throw a piece of folded paper over to my table. At first, I glanced at him, confused on what it was. He waved at me, as telling to look inside it.

Still confused, I opened the folded paper then I opened the folded paper, seeing that it was a message about why I suddenly… yeah, passed out.

My mouth opened but it was quickly shut again. I fumbled in my pencil case, took another pencil out and wrote that I would tell him after school behind it, folded it and threw it back to him.

As he opened it, he was maybe a little disappointed about my answer, but smiled and nodded at me, giving me a thumb up like Sonic always do. He was, ironically, a fan of Sonic, loving when I told about what he and I had done together.

Of course, I found it a bit funny, but he, alongside with a few others, were some real friends I could trust. Because after Iblis had disappeared, I was held as a hero and the saviour of the entire planet, even though I did tell it was Blaze who sealed Iblis away with herself in another dimension.

But people still thought that I was the hero. And that turned out to be that everybody wanted to be together with me. I was the "popular" kid in school to say it the least. Not only because of my actions against Iblis, but over the past three years, have I gained an archenemy by the name of Doctor Eggman Nega. To make a long story short, then he is an evil and manically scientist, worse than Doctor Eggman, who happens to be his ancestor.

But the thought from my meeting with Blaze, just bored through my mind.

_'This is very interesting, but very strange. How can it be that I can somehow come in contact with Blaze… through the Chaos Emerald? I need to ask Shadow about this.'_

* * *

><p><strong><em>In the Sol Dimension…<em>**

The morning sun shined in through the window of the adult princess' room. She was frantically moving this way, then that way, then back again.

The door opened.

The crack from it brought Blaze's attention. In the doorway stood a maid, wearing a blue dress, white leggings and looked so innocent and humble. She was a beige cat. As far as she was a servant to the royal family, she was also a, relatively, good friend of the princesses. Especially Blaze.

"Your highness," the servant said and curtsied before the princess. "Everything is ready for your journey. Their mother is waiting for you and your friend in the throne room."

Blaze sighed. Everything just through her head ans she really hadn't thought of anything else than the male futuristic hedgehog in her dream last night. She nodded and waved at the servant as sign of dismiss. "Thank you, Julie. You may leave."

The girl curtsied again before closing the door afterwards. Blaze bit her lower lip. She sighed and plumped down to her bed.

Taking to her head, she stroke her hands down her face, reaching her chin. She was so torn. She felt she was in the middle of a battle but with no knowledge on how to fight.

She stood up quickly, went over to the mirror and brushed her hair one more time, setting up in her usual ponytail. The earrings she threw down in the small box along with the other, and placed it then in her suitcase after wards.

Standing up, she looked around to make sure she had everything. One thing was missing. The bracelet.

Out of the corner of her eye, Blaze saw the golden charm bracelet being on the white bedside table. And the picture.

Biting her lip, she reached forward, took a quick look at the picture before moving it aside. She had to let go. She just had to. She wanted to bring him with her. She had let the plushie be in her bed, honestly, it was hid underneath it in a small box. But this picture, it was the only thing she had left beside the bracelet…

She took the picture out of the frame and tucked it inside a rhombus formed medallion. It would be safe there. And the bracelet went around her wrist once more.

…

"But I am telling you the truth, Marine. It really was him. I could feel him. He… he hugged me. We even showed emotions and all." She said. Ever since last night, Blaze has been acting all strange. She felt as if it was a sign of… something, but at the same time, Marine didn't truly believe the lavender feline, saying that it was just a normal dream, which made Blaze angry.

"I swear, Marine. It wasn't just any normal dream. I was in a white space and he spoke to me. We even wore complete different clothes and all. There mus be a connection to all this."

"Look, mate. How can ya be sure that it really was your Silver-block?" Marine questioned her as they got their bags and suitcases, walking down the stairs to get to Soleanna. "It could 'ave been anybody."

"I know it was him. It can't be any other. He is the only person who knows how to console me and the only person I really…" Blaze hesitated as she realized that she had told the young raccoon too much already. She blushed lightly and looked away.

"You really what?"

Marine was quite curious on what the hedgehog meant to Blaze, but the princess didn't want to talk more about him. Her friend wouldn't understand it anyway, in her head, so she just kept mute. That and she didn't want her to know that she actually was in deep love with Silver. She sighed.

"Never mind." She said lowly and her blush finally disappeared.

The young girl was getting a bit upset that the princess didn't wanted to tell her what was on her mind, but Blaze ignored it. Marine kept begging her though.

"Please, mate. He is the only person that you really what?"

She kept asking her the same question over and over towards the great hall where Blaze's mother, Queen Sapphire of Solaria, her little sister, Princess Emily the Cat, and Gardon were waiting for them. They were going to say the last goodbyes before Gardon would activate the portal to Sonic's dimension, which stands outside the castle. Since Blaze got the fake Chaos Emerald from Knuckles, they were able to travel between dimensions for as long as they wanted to.

Marine kept asking Blaze over and over, and she was starting to get furious. She tried her best not to shout at the young raccoon.

"You want to know what Silver is to me?" Her tone was angry. Marine stepped back as the amber eyes shot daggers at her. "He is the only person I have ever really trusted and my best friend I have had in my entire life!"

Marine was a little startled that the cat said it in that tone and almost became scared of her. No, scratch that. She was scared, afraid really.

Blaze simply scoffed as she entered the great hall with an annoyed expression on her face, pulling her white suitcase with purple royal marks on behind her. The queen smiled nervously at her daughter as she and the others heard the argument that Marine and Blaze just had. Gardon raised his eyebrow in confusion while Emily had a smirk on her face as if she was ready to tease her bigger sister again.

"Look Blaze, I'm sorry I upset you before." Marine said apologising as she came up beside the fiery princess. Blaze scoffed as her eyes were on the blue marble floor

"You should just respect that when I don't want to talk about me and Silver's close friendship, then I don't want to." The pyrokinetic princess simply said, still a little annoyed but calmly. However, the calm tone soon vanished as her sister started to tease her.

"Yes, Marine. Can't you see that Blaze likes him? Oh, no wait! She doesn't likes him, she _loves_ him."

Blaze's face turned a scarlet red colour, immediately, in embarrassment and quickly, she looked at her laughing little sister.

"I do not!" She shouted.

"Yes, you do!" Emily said back, with a finger pointing towards the adult ne.

"No, I don't!"

"Then why are you blushing like crazy? Ha hah ha!"

The feline's blush became slightly worse, but inside, she did feel some rage that needed to be released. With all her might, she managed to control some of her emotions. If they got the better of her, she could easily release the Flames of Disaster out in her flames, which would case the castle to be in flames.

She growled in anger, gave her sister a death glare while taking her hand in front of herself. She let a ball of fire swirl around in it. This caused Emily to scream in fear and hide behind their mother.

"Say that again and I'll burn you!" She threaten her as she held the fireball up beside her head.

The younger princess started to whimper in fright.

"Blaze! Calm down this instant!" The queen shouted.

Her flame extinguished immediately and she stood straight, taking in some deep breaths.

"She started." Blaze mumbled in irritation after she had finally calmed down.

"Maybe so, your highness. But you are the oldest and the heir to the throne, so you need to take responsibility." Gardon said as if he was her father. That was what Blaze thought at least.

She clenched her eyes shut as the anger was slowly returning.

"Stop calling me "your highness," Gardon! How many years have I told to just call me by my name?" She growled at the koala.

"Hmm… Let me see. Your whole life." Emily said and tried to hold back her laugh.

She stared deadly at her sister and moved her face close to the smaller cat.

"Watch it, Emily! You be glad that mother doesn't send you with me!" She snapped at her.

"You two stop it this instant! Or else I will give you both a month to be grounded!" The Queen said in slight anger.

"Yes, mother." The two royals said in unison.

...

A purplish-reddish portal appeared in front of the five mobians. Turning around, Blaze was met with a warm right embrace from her mother. It was always the same thing every year.

"Now be careful, Blaze." Her mum said in a slight shaking tone. "Don't do anything foolish and take good care of Marine." Her tone turned to serious. Blaze sighed with a small chuckle in it and hugged her mother back.

"I will mum. And don't worry. It's not that we will get into trouble or anything." Blaze said as she patterned her mother's back as a signal on that she could let go now. "Maybe Marine will, but that's not terrible. Just irritating." Her tone was a little sarcastic and she smirked as her attention turned to the raccoon beside her, who just give a fist to the older koala.

"Ey!" Marine said in annoyance as her hands turned into fist, her arms being down by her side.

The adult princess just simply chuckled as she waved and said goodbye before she took her suitcase and went through the portal, with Marine closely behind her.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Back in the future…<em>**

The bell rang its last time at the day and students hurried out of the classrooms. After that dream, my thoughts were all on Blaze only, and Mr Corton was not the first one to be mad at me. My English teacher was worried though. So was my physics teacher.

People pushed each other the way to get outside through the main entrance. Even though it's not allowed, I activated my psychokinetic abilities and hovered over the students. However, just as I got outside, a rock came flying out of nowhere, causing me to crash right into a tree. The air was knocked out of, completely, and I fell on my back, on top of my schoolbag.

Five shadows covered me; each one belonging to my five friends. Rex the Echidna-bat, Christopher the Hedgehog - mostly known as Chris -, Jake the Cat, who we all just call Jackie, Amanda the Cat, and Kristine the Raccoon.

I pushed myself up, dusting my jeans off when I was on my legs. "Look guys, I'm really in hurry, so make it quick."

The half echidna, half bat, stepped forward, his arms crossing over one another as he looked at me in a slight sly manner.

"Dude! We want to know why you passed out in class all of a sudden!" Rex said in his mocking tone rather loud.

Rex is properly Knuckles' descendant. His dreadlocks are a red colour though white vertical stripes was here and there. His eyes were a teal-violet colour, reminding me that a certain bat was involved in his race. Under his shirt, bat like wings hid underneath it so he couldn't use them. Or, more likely, he had been in an accident that made his wings immobilized. Another clear sign that his DNA comes partly from a bat. His black shirt has a giant picture of Jurassic Park, and his dark green pants were filled with pockets. pockets, while his shoes were just normal grey sneakers. Like myself and many others, he has Psychokinesis. A difference between mine and others Psychokinetic powers, is that inside my body runs Chaos Energy, which increases my ability to move objects and myself. Not to forgot that I can turn Super Silver when having all 7 Chaos Emeralds.

An orange figure stepped forward; he being a hedgehog and was the one who was with me in history today. He wrapped his arm around my neck.

"And you did tell me that you were going to tell me anyway after school. So, speak up." Chris said, giving me a light punch on the shoulder before releasing me.

Chris is a pro Sonic fan, as I have said earlier. His species is of a hedgehog. An orange one. His eyes are blue and he wears only blue. At least as much as he can. On his blue shirt, a golden ring was covering the most of it and inside it, was the blue blur himself. His loose jeans were a blue colour too, but he had white gloves on. His shoes were weren't blue either. They were white converse and under his soles, he had convinced Kristine to build some jets so that he could speed around town like Sonic do. Like hover shoes.

Rubbing my arm where my friend had punched me, I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, fine. But the truth is that I don't really know why I passed out." I said honest, though I had a theory which would sound like the biggest joke to them.

"Yeah, right. Admit it Silver, you just don't want us to know." Jackie said in mystery as he walked around me with crossed arms, his long grey cat tail stroking against my leg. It send shivers down my spine.

Jackie is almost like Rouge and Espio combined. Like spying on others and then he flirts with almost all the girls at school. He's had several girlfriends and he is a real heartbreaker. He is a dark grey cat with orange eyes and he is as silent and sneaky as one too. He wears a dark grey to black shirt with dark purple hemlines, and a pair of loose black jeans to match. His low boots are black too, making him the perfect ninja at night. He also has two piercings in his left ear while having one in the other.

"No, it's not like that. I seriously don't know why I passed out." I exclaimed in an apologizing manner. He snickered, which made me slightly, no, quite irritated. "But look, if you don't believe me, then fine. I got other stuff to take care about, anyway."

The silvery fur of mine glittered in the sunlight, making a sweet kitty purr under her breath, blush even, as her eyes gazed at my back. She went forward, quickly.

"Why are you such in a hurry, Silvy?" Amanda said cutely while getting hold of my arm to stop me. I turned around and looked at my ex.

Yeah, Amanda is my ex. I will admit, there is still some feelings inside me for her; I just think things were too much at one point. It's not that I didn't love her, I still do but, I didn't feel like I could love her as much as she loved me. Still, she follows me everywhere and has a huge crush me. Plus she is one of my fan-girls. Lovely.

Looking at her, I just noticed how pretty she looked today on this summer afternoon. Her cream-coloured fur matched perfectly to her sky-blue dress, which has a white ribbon around her waist, and matching sandals on as footwear. Her eyes are always so captive. Dark emerald green eyes, showing the pure kindness her heart bears, and her hair is set in two long pig-tails, which made her look even cuter than normal. Around her wrist, she wears three different kind of bracelets, one golden, one white and one blue.

I sighed and looked away from her. Apparently, Amanda has that effect on me. Calming me down, that is. A small blush even appeared at my peach muzzles.

"Amanda, please. Stop calling me that." I said in embarrassment as I glanced away for a moment, before staring into her lovely, so captive, beautiful eyes. "You know we're only good friends and I want it to remain that way." I took her around her hands and squeezed them slightly before moving them away from my arm.

She was disappointed. I can't blame her. She really do love me and she does also know I have a crush on another girl out there. She just think she can bring enough love to me that I will forget about Blaze. It's very sweet of her and I have told her, that there is always a little piece of my heart that will belong to her.

The sound of high-heels, and the voice of another woman, brought me back from my guilt filled fantasy.

"But why are in a hurry anyway, Silver? Is it because you passed out in class today?" Kristine asked me calmly with her hands on her hips. I looked up to meet her brown eyes. "Or is it something else?" She continued as her hand was brought out.

Kristine is my answer for Tails. She is very smart, handy and loves to build and repair stuff. She even have her own airplane! Not that she already can levitate like all the others, but since it's not for that long, she has her plane to fly with. Plus, she says it's much more fun the old fashion way, as she says it.

She is a grey raccoon with very dark brown hair, and she wears a simple dark blue t-shirt and a brown short jacket. Her dark blue pants are a medium length, just reaching her knees, and has some brown matching low boots. She has a golden necklace on and a golden charm bracelet around her wrist. The most of the charms were something like a plane, a wrench, a screwdriver, some hearts and all that stuff. But that's not important, is it? Well, except for the part that I gave her it. And gosh, I reallt need to stop being so sweet and kind to my female friends. First Blaze, the Amanda, and last Kristine. You would think I was a woman's guy.

I sighed again and looked down at the asphalt. I shook my head.

"Uh... It's not why I passed out, but the dream I had." I said lowly and looked back up at Kristine. She, as well as the other four, had been turning into a big question mark.

"Dream? What kind of dream?" Rex asked as he rubbed his white gloved knuckle against his skull. I looked at my shoes shuffling around as I twirled by fingers.

"Well, not exactly a dream. It was more like…" I trailed off, finding it hard to continue. "Man, I don't know how to explain this." I mumbled. My hand reached my eyes for a second before it was brought out. "Look, remember when I talked about the person who made Iblis disappear and all?"

They nodded, and find out that I was talking about my secret love, which they didn't knew other than Amanda, of course.

"You're talking about this Blaze, wasn't it her name?" Jackie asked me, while crossing his arms and giving me a smirk, which confused me. What was on his mind? I really wish I had telepathic powers now. Okay, I wish I had it all the times.

I nodded with squinted eyes and motioned them to follow me. "Yeah, she is my best friend. I think, what nonsense, I _did_ make contact with her through the Chaos Emerald I held in class today."

I pulled the white Chaos Emerald out of my pocket and showed them it while walking backwards. They were all amazed by the emerald and couldn't really take their eyes off it. No surprise that Kristine was the one who was less impressed. She has seen a Chaos Emerald before, several times may I add. Plus, she is the one who goes on adventures with me the most.

"The reason why I am such in a hurry is because I have never tried something like this before, and I think that Shadow might answer my questions, since he and his fiancé both knows much about the Chaos Emeralds. More than I do."

As soon as I mentioned Shadow's name, Chris shoot his head up and looked at me in excitement.

"Shadow? T-That Shadow?" He asked. I nodded my head slowly, thinking Chris was overreacting a bit too much. Shadow is just a person. Okay, he is not a normal one. He has saved Earth hundred of times, more than I have, that's for sure. But he is still not that respected by people. I wonder why.

"Yeah, Chris. I think he means Shadow the Hedgehog. The Ultimate Lifeform." Kristine said while chuckling at Chris wide-eyed face and jaw dropping. She puffed to him at her statement and giggled.

He kept this look for some seconds before we eventually started to find it annoying though.

"Uhm, Chris… you can stop looking at me like that at any time." I said a bit embarrassed and sweat dropped. But there came no reaction from him what so ever.

"Uh, Chris? Hello?" Amanda said as she snapped her fingers in front of him. This made him snap back to reality. He shook his head quickly while looking like a little kid who was opening his presents at Christmas.

"Dude that's awesome!" He exclaimed. All of us sweat dropped at his reaction and Kristine pulled him aside, just so he could calm down.

"Uhh… Right. Just keep a low profile, Chris. Shadow won't like it if you act like that around him." I said as we neared us a nice looking neighborhood here in New Westopolis. And I don't like it either when he acts all hyped up around people.

We got closer and closer to his house. There was light in it, of course. At this time of the day, the tribal princess would always have her children at home.

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot…" I turned around and looked at Jackie. My arms crossed, and a sly smirk appeared. "… I recommend that you don't flirt with his fiancé if you know what's good for you, Jackie."

He raised an eyebrow then smirked. His arms were crossed the whole time.

As we reached the door, we heard a loud crash from the inside and some kids shouting at each other.  
><em><br>'Lovely moment we've arrived at.' _I thought and nodded my head in approving before raising my hand.

_Knock! Knock!_

"I'll get it!" A little girl shouted to her mother. When she opened the door, she squealed in happiness at the sight of the albino hedgehog. Had he not stood as the first one in the doorway, the girl would have backed off at the sight of the strangers behind him.

"Uncie Silver!" The little girl said and ran over to me. I lifted her up and she immediately hugged me.

"Hey, Maria. Glad to see me, eh?"

The little three-years-old orange echidna nodded her head in delight and stared into my golden eyes with her own crimson ones. She had a few thin black stripes in her orange dreadlocks, and today, she didn't decided to wrap them in with toilet paper as she often did. She wore a white top, that exposed some of her belly, with thick grey lines at the side and a modern-looking tribal skirt with white, blue, and dark brown triangular patterns, and fringed along the bottom hem. As footwear, she had white sandals and she had thick grey wrist bracelets on too. Around her head was a grey tiara-like band with a black jewel in the centre.

I looked back at my friends with the little girl in my arms, seeing that the males had a WTF look on their faces, while the females giggled lightly at the surprise. The girl tightened the grip around me at the many eyes that stared at her.

"Yeah, they call me their uncle."

"They?" My friends asked in confusion.

I was about to answer them, but another voice stopped me.

"Momma! Uncle Silver is here!" The four-year-old black hedgehog yelled as he speeded over to me. With the use of my Psychokinesis, I lifted him on to my back where he held on tight. I didn't even need to turn around to greet him, he was easy to locate. Unlike Maria; she is very light on her feet and very silent when she runs.

"Good to see you too, Eclipse." I said and twisted my head over my shoulder. The young boy was playing with my long front quills, pulling them back before releasing them, making them bounce back to their original position. This made him giggle and he did it again.

Eclipse is Maria's older brother and, unlike Maria, he is almost identical to Shadow. He has the exact same marks of a hedgehog as Shadow has, but the differences between father and son is that Eclipse has orange lines along his spikes, arms and legs and that he has cobalt blue eyes like his mother. His shoes and cuffs are not red either, but a dark orange. His shoes are orange with white and black lines on and white shoelaces, and white gloves with black and orange-tongued cuffs and something that reminds of Shadow's Inhibitor Rings. Under his shoes, are jet holes like his dad's hover shoes. And last, Eclipse has a white tuft of fur on his chest just like Shadow. He only wears a pair of blue shorts though today.

Their mother came in, a delighted shining smile showing up.

"Silver. It's so good to see you again. And you've taken some friends with you, I see." Their mother spoke. I looked over to see her standing in the doorway to the small hall, smiling as she had a wooden spoon in her hand with crossed arms.

She is an orange, ancient princess, echidna with cobalt blue eyes. How she and Shadow managed to meet, is beyond my knowledge.

She wears a white top that exposes her belly, light blue loose jeans and white high-heeled sandals with white straps around her feet and up legs. She has her usual golden tiara-like band with an elliptical jewel in the centre, and around her neck, she wears a large golden necklace. Her gloves are white, like everybody's normally are, and thick cobalt blue wrist bracelets surrounds the end of them, while she has golden upper right arm brace and some bandages around her dreadlocks. Her age is a bit of a mystery, though she looks around the 24.

"Hey there, Tikal. These are my friends. Rex…"

"Hello there!" He said and waved.

"… Chris…"

"How's it hanging?" He said cockily.

"… Jackie…"

"Hellooo, gorgeous." He said a little flirty and winked at her. Tikal simply rolled her eyes and smirked. I continued the introduction.

"… Kristine…"

"Hi there! Nice to meet you." She said politely and very friendly.

"… And Amanda." I finally finished.

"Hi." She said shyly and waved.

"It's nice to meet all of you. And don't just stand there, come in!" Tikal said and motioned us im. I still had the two kids in my arms. One was on my back however while I held the other one in my actual arms.

"What a mess!" Kristine said in surprise as she saw some of the smaller tables lying on the floor and some vases in pieces. I looked between the two kids with a smirk on my face.

"Which one of you did it?" I said mockingly.

Eclipse and Maria immediately looked and pointed at each other and said that it was the others fault. It soon became to an argument, and having two kids arguing between you isn't a funny thing. I put them down on the floor and my arms, leaning in over the two siblings.

"I guess it's both faults then."

They looked ashamed at me, which made me chuckle warmly.

My friends were exploring the house since they knew that they wouldn't really be able to enter it a second time.

"Maria. Eclipse. Clean up the mess before your father gets home." Tikal said slightly annoyed.

The two kids mumbled in annoyance but did as their mother said. I looked over at Tikal who sat down on the couch, sighing deeply out.

"It's hard to have kids, eh?" I teased her lightly. She nodded but smiled warmly as she looked over at me.

"Something is troubling you. I can see that. Tell me, what is it?"

I plumped down over for her, taking the Chaos Emerald out of my pocket again.

"Yeah. I was hoping that Shadow could tell something I have experienced with the Chaos Emerald today at school."

Tikal looked at me a little nervous and worried. "Did you use it?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly used it. In the middle of my lesson, I think I came in contact with-"

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I looked down at my bracelet, which told me that Nega's robots was destroying a part of the city. I groaned.

"Great. Nega again."

"Better see where he is making trouble." Tikal said. I nodded and hit a button that showed me his robots were destroying the west part of the city.

"Kind of a long way." I said emotionless and switched the map away. I stood up and held the Chaos Emerald in my hand.

"I'm sorry, Tikal. But, uhh…"

"You don't need to explain. Just get going." She said and waved me off.

"What's going on in here?" Chris asked with crossed arms as he saw me staring into the emerald, glowing a cyan colour. Soon, the rest of the group came into the living room, and saw me just in time to see me warping my way to the west part of New Westopolis.

...

Popping out of nowhere, from a flash of light honestly, I found myself in the middle of a destroyed parking lot. Looking to my right where all the destructive sound came from, I spotted a big red robot destroying cars, buildings and harmed anybody that was near it.

_'Looks like his robot is out of control this time, cause I don't see any other robots here.'_

People screamed and ran away from the devastation and the chaos the robot caused. When it saw a little family on a mother, a father and their six-years-old son, it approached them in a menacing way. The little boy cried and hided behind his mother while his father stood protective in front of his family, ready to sacrifice his life for them.

The robot fired some rockets towards them and they were paralyzed and stood stiffly to the spot. They shut their eyes, readied for their doom. But I wouldn't allow that. Quickly, I warped in front of them and used my Psychokinesis to freeze the rockets in mid-air, before I shoot them back at Nega's robot.

"Get away from here! Now!" I yelled. The family snapped out of the shock and quickly sprinted away.

My attention returned to the robot that was charging at me. I put a psychic shield up to block the robot's attack, but it was smarter then it looked like. With its other hand, it went through the shield, grabbed hold of me and threw me to the ground. I groaned in pain, and clenched my eyes shut. Just as I opened them, the robot was about to crush me. I quickly rolled out of the way so the robot hit the ground instead of me. It leaved quite a big crater behind it. I levitated up into the air, used my powers to pick up the crushed cars and the stones that had gotten loose from the road, and fired it all at the red robot. It did make a lot of damage on it, but not enough to end it. This fight continued for five more minutes where I picked up cars and stone, throw it at the robot until there was no more left.

_'Great. Now I have to take it out physically.'_

"Psychic arrows!" I shouted as I formed some arrowed formed psychokinetic energy and fired it towards the robot.

More damage hit it and it was on its last leg. However, the robot wasn't going to give up. Once I had my guard down, it surprised me by attacking me from behind, throwing me into a wall. I clenched my eyes shut as I hit it, then opened one of them, groaning in slight pain.

"So you wanna play that game, huh? Well, fine with me!" I smirked and charged my Psychokinesis up as well as a little bit of Chaos Energy, just to make my attack a little more powerful. I lifted myself up into the air, hoping that Nega's robot would jump into the air to try to hit me. And luck was on my side now. It did the exact thing I wanted it to do, and when it was near me, I teleported away from it, so it wouldn't hit me, before I shoot straight at it, going through it and zoomed past everything. As soon as I had shoot through it, the robot exploded, leaving nothing but scrap metal and flames behind it.

But as soon as I saw the flames emerging from it, I thought about her. I had the strongest desire to see her beautiful face once again, and my guts told that I would. Very soon actually. I quickly shook my head and shoot off in the direction I thought was the quickest way back to Shadow and Tikal's house.

_'I miss you, Blaze. More than you can even imagine.'_

From a far, I watched as a little girl was climbing around in a tree before slipping off one of the boughs, falling down with her head pointed downwards. I quickly speeded up and grabbed her just in time. She yelped at the sudden grab. Her eyes were closed tightly in fright.

"Hey, it's okay." I said as I lowered down. "You can open your eyes now."

Once hearing my reassuring voice, the girl opened slowly her left eye, then the other. Looking around, her mouth dropped as she spotted my face. She took her hands to her mouth as she gasped. Her eyes went wide. She didn't even realise I placed her on her feet again.

"There you go." I said as I placed her down on the ground. She stared up. "You should be more careful with what you do, little girl." I ruffled her hair before walking off

She looked like she was around the 9 years old, or something, max, and she wore grey jeans and a purple shirt, and she was a human-being.

"T-T-Thank you." She said nervously. I turned around and stopped before blinking. As I moved around on my heel, the girl ran up to me with a curious expression showing up in her light face. .

"Aren't you Silver the Hedgehog?" She questioned me. I smiled and got down on one leg. I rubbed my black nose with a chuckle escaping me.

"Yep, that's me. And what's your name?" I asked her friendly.

She shuffled her feet while having her hand stroking her arm. "… So-Sophia."

I chuckled warmly again, causing her to look up at my smiling face.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Sophia." I said and stared at girl before me, nuzzling her hair. I stood up slowly.

A thought hit her and it made her shuffle again while twirling her fingers around.

"Is it true that you can do stuff that others can't?" She asked me while looking up. I chuckled again. It feels funny when people asks you questions like that.

"Yeah, I can." I answered and leaned over my body, my hands being on my knees. "Want to see?"

The girl smiled and quickly nodded her head. I teleported behind her, then beside her and last in front of her. Sophia's jaw dropped and then she clapped her hands in excitement.

"That's so cool! Can you do other stuff?" She asked me in delight.

I used my Psychokinesis to lift both her and myself into air, and then I turned her upside down for a few seconds while I levitated on my back, showing her that it wasn't a struggle to me at all.

"Hey, Silver! Where are you?"

Kristine said through my phone-bracelet. I quickly sat the girl back down and answered my friend.

"I've just beaten one of Nega's robot in the west part of the city and saved a little girl from falling down a tree and break her neck. I'm on my way back now." I said before I waved at little girl and used the Chaos Emerald to teleport all the way back to the east side of the city.

"Ouch!" I said as I landed on my back on the hard wood floor in the living room of the Ultimate Lifeform's house.

"Silver!" All my friends exclaimed and helped me up. It was a bit of a struggle to me, but they managed to bring me on to the couch.

"Dude, how did you do that? That was so awesome!" Chris almost shouted in my face. I brought my hands up to my ears, and shut my eyes at the pain that rushed through my head.

"Argh! Please Chris. Calm down. I'm getting a headache." I said as rubbed my head afterwards. The cause was very simple. I am not used to warp between large areas as this one. I only start practicing Chaos Control a month ago with Shadow, and let me say, it's way harder than it sounds and looks.

"Well, you are getting better." Tikal said to cheer me up and went into the kitchen where she was cooking food for her family.

"Getting better? How long have you done this?" Amanda asked me. Still rubbing my head, I sat on one of the couches, feeling some pain slowly leaving.

"Me and Shadow started to practice this a month ago. I still don't have full control of it yet, but I can warp between small places with ease. It's just the longer distances, where I need to use the Chaos Emerald, I have trouble with. I warp by using my psychokinesis and Chaos Energy most of the time."

They slowly nodded their heads in understanding, but they were still eager to hear how my fight between Nega's robot and I went. Especially Chris. No surprise. Before I even got time to start, Amanda tucked closely beside me and stroke my arm then my long pointy quills. A small blush appeared and I shook my head.

As I started to tell them, Jackie as ever, sneaked away to do the exact opposite of what I recommended him not to do. Flirting with Tikal, why not?

Standing in the open doorway, the grey cat admired the ancient echidna princess before him. Good thing she had her back against him, otherwise it could be slightly ugly. Guess where his gaze was when she bent down after dropping the knife. Her bottom, of course.

"Hey, Tik. How's the pretty girl doing? Need some help?" He said flirty to her.

Once standing up, Tikal gasped and turned around with the knife pointed towards the doorway. Jackie's eyes did grow bigger at the sight of her defensive position and backed off, but calmed down when the girl seemed to relax. She let the knife be on the counter and giggled nervously at her behaviour.

"Ehe. My bad, Jackie. I didn't expect you." A small blush appeared in embarrassment and she sweat dropped. "You were asking something?"

The cat crossed his arms and leaned against another counter on the opposite side of where the tribal princess stood. "I just asked how you were doing and if you needed some help."

"Oh. Well, I am fine, thank you. No, I don't need any help right now." She said and took her knife, beginning to resume cutting the vegetables. "But why don't you go in to listen to Silver telling about his fight against Nega like the others?"

It didn't go exactly as Jackie had planned, but he liked when it didn't do sometimes. It allowed him to improvise and explore his target a bit more, which he liked.

"Because I think it's boring. And because I want to be here with you and talk a bit."

Tikal turned around, knowing where he was going. "Look Jackie. You are a nice guy and all, but you shouldn't start flirting with me since I already belong to somebody else." She turned her attention back to her vegetables.

"Aww, come on, Tikal." He said and went closer. "Why don't we have some fun?" He asked her in a somewhat naughty way and smacked her bottom.

"Eep! Hey, that's private!" She said and held her hand on her butt while the other held the knife that was on the counter.

"Yeah, but it looks nice." Jackie said very flirty and moved closer to her. As Tikal tightened her grip around the knife, Jackie put a hand around her writs, holding her down.

"I recommend that you stop it this instant!" She scolded at him. Jackie's hand went onto the counter as well, on the other side of the woman's body.

"You look pretty when you are angry." He moved closer in while Tikal leaned her head back as far as she could.

_Tap! Tap!_

Jackie felt somebody tapping his shoulder. He became a little angry, thinking that it was Silver or one of the others that stood behind him.

"What? Can't you see that I am…?" He turned around to see the owner of the house. A black male hedgehog with red lines in his quills and bloody red eyes, which were filled with disgust and rage. On his chest was a white tuft of fur and he wore a black jacket with red hemlines and dark grey pants, while he had red hover shoes on.

"Hands off my fiancé!" Shadow said and swung the fry pan in his hand directly at Jackie, knocking him out coldly. First came the sound from the pan and then the sound of Jackie hitting the tiled floor. The sudden sounds made the kids in the living room curious. _  
><em>

"Uhm... Thank you, Shadow." Tikal said as he kissed her. Her gaze went to the unconscious grey cat before them. "But I think you went a little too far."

"Listen, Tikal." The black hedgehog stated as he stroked her cheek with his backhand. "Nobody lays a hand on you and gets away it. Especially if they do something to you that you don't want them to do." His neutral expression showed not much emotions but Tikal knew that there was more under that emotionless nature of his.

"But who is he?" He asked her as his ruby eyes went to the shifting cat.

Tikal was about to answer when she and her husband-to-be heard a voice coming from the doorway into the kitchen.

"That's Jackie. He's one of my friends." I said in rather embarrassment while scratching my neck. Shadow and Tikal turned their attention towards me, my female friends and Rex.

"And the playboy on our school. He's almost been together with every possible girl in it." Amanda and Kristine said.

"Aww, well. At least he gets what he deserves." Rex added.

Shadow looked between us all five. His usual emotionless face turned into some anger.

"Silver, what are your friends doing in MY house!? OUT! I want them out, now!" He almost shouted.

"Easy, honey." Tikal said calmly and hugged him softly.

I frowned and turned to look at my slightly shocked friends. "Sorry you guys. But Shadow want us out, so…"

As soon as I said Shadow's name, Chris zoomed into the room, glaring at the black blur that stood in front of him. He quickly took his hand and shook it violently.

"Whoa! It's an honour to finally meet Sonic's rival!" He said excitedly. Shadow took his hand back as soon as Chris shook it.

"Hands off." He said coldly. He then realized what he was wearing and groaned in annoyance. "Great. A fan of the faker, is just what I need." He said sarcastically and face palmed.

This made Chris a little angry though as he almost shouted in Shadow's face.

"He's no faker! You're the fake hedgehog around here, Shads!" He teased him.

"Don't call me Shads! Not even faker is allowed to call me that!" He yelled.

"Sonic is no faker. He has even proven that he is much better than you are, Shadow."

_'Uh oh! You shouldn't had said that, Chris.' _I thought, as I knew what Shadow was going to do.

The door opened wide up and in the doorway stood the ebony hedgehog, holding the apricot male tight around his neck, before throwing him out in the slight darkly dawn evening.

"Argh!" Chris shouted and get scratches around his body and a bit of blood ran from his lips after the hard hit of asphalt.

"And take your friend with you!" Shadow yelled as he throw the still unconscious Jackie out so that he landed on top of Chris.

Shadow glared at all us other and pointed out at the open door. "Out! Now!" He growled.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Tikal and… Shadow." Kristine said and almost hesitated at the last part.

"Is he always like that?" Amanda whispered scared.

"Sometimes." I whispered back. It send shivers down her spine and she clinked to my arm.

"Well, see you later!" Rex said and waved. Amanda didn't say anything in slightly fright.

As I was about to walk outside to the others with her, Shadow pulled me back inside, causing Amanda's hands to slip my arm. She looked behind in confusion.

"I said your friends, idiot. Not you. I have something urgent to tell you." He said coldly, but there was something that sounded different in his voice.

I felt a chill running down my spine as he said it like that. He never really had anything to tell me that was urgent, unless it had something to do with Nega. But he sounded a lot more serious than usual, which made think that something was awfully wrong.

"Okay. See you tomorrow, guys!" I shouted after my friends. Amanda was about to stop me, but Shadow came ahead of me on the speaking part.

"No, you won't see them tomorrow. If memories serves me right, then you are going on a mission after this little talk."

The door closed and the five teenagers stared in curiosity at it for a few moments. One by one, they scattered in different direction towards their homes.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading this and remember to review. It really helps me a ton.<strong>

**Property to Astral-Blaze. Please, do not copy without permission.**

_Trivia Time!_

_Edited the text, big time. Not as much as with the first chapter, but still. It's much better than before. Will edit chapter 3 later. Oh, and that servant there, Julie, is actually my FC. I just wanted to bring her in for the heck of it. Her real name is Catherine Julia the Cat, but everyone, many, just calls her Julie or Cath. Fun fact. I made a readjustment to her name from my own, since I bear the name Katerina, and her middle name is actually my sister's name. But she is me in mobian fun, in a nutshell._

_Not much trivia here, I suppose. Well, that thing in the beginning, where Blaze and Silver meets, I am sorry if I am making it confusing. Basically, they meet each other through the Chaos and Sol Emerald of the same colour. When that happens, and they are, or their souls are, send to this white world (which is like the hop world of Generations), their own body becomes limp and falls asleep. So you can say they are meeting each other in a 'dream'. But it's not any normal dream, of course. It is a space between the Chaos and Sol Emeralds and their dimension, where time does not exist. I had this idea from EvanStanley's "Ghost of the Future" comic, in the beginning where Sonic sends his soul to where the energy from the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds exist. _

_You guys don't have any idea of what I am talking about, do you? *Sigh* You should check out the comic, or the author/artist behind it, on deviantART. It's very good. One of the best Sonic comics ever, along with "The Murder of Me" by Sapphire-something. Forgot what the last of her DA name was. Lol. XD_

_Katerina Oestergaard_


	3. Songs with Feelings

_**Author's note: This chapter is extremely long and I apologise for that. Also, another side note, this chapter will be rewrote in the near future for a better experience to you readers. I will do the same for the next chapter as well but for now, you have to live with my poor writing and cheesy chapter.**_

* * *

><p><strong>Elemental Flames<strong>

_Chapter 3 - Songs with Feelings_

* * *

><p>"I can't change, change. I won't change, I'll always be running away." Marine sang as she had her earphones on, and the volume turned on full sound.<p>

"Marine, stop singing it! It's very old anyway." I half shouted at her in embarrassment.

The song she sang was one of my own made songs, which I wrote just before me and Silver went into his timeline, and adjusted it a lot when I got home. As Marine had already sung the refrain of the song, it is called _Change_. It was how I was before Silver stepped into my life, how I always ran away from my problems instead of facing them, but after seeing his ruined home, I had to stand on my own feet and fight back. It was very hard in the beginning, but after some help - a lot of help - from Silver, I became more confident. I started to learn how powerful I was, and I could actually control my powers more and more by the years. It was also around this time when I figured that I had feelings for Silver and that I liked him more than just a friend, even though I kept denying it and told myself that it was probably my imagination.

"I can't change, change. And I'll never give into you, I'll always be running away."

"MARINE, STOP SINGING MY SONG!" I yelled. Not in anger, more in a sad desperation. She took her earphones out and looked at me in curiosity.

"Sorry, mate. Did ya say something?"

I sighed and stopped up, as we walked through the ancient castle of Soleanna, which lies here in Kingdom Valley. Apparently, the portal had leaded us here, which meant that we had to make our way towards Soleanna Castle Town on feet while pulling our suitcases behind us.

"Could you please stop singing? It brings some not so good stuff into my head." I said quietly in sadness.

Of course, I was sad. Why would I not be? Every part of that song is wrong right now, especially the refrain. Because I can change; I want to change; I will change. I don't want to run away from all my problems, and I am certainly not running away from them anymore. But most of all, I will always give in to Silver. I cannot push him away. He means so much to me that I will always give in to him. And also, when it reaches a point where it says that I don't belong to no one, it is false. I love Silver; I belong to him and nobody else. What I don't know is if he will accept my heart. I do hope it, but I will never know.

Marine looked confused at me. She liked my songs, and she just didn't understood why I myself don't like them.

"Okay…" She said in rather disappointment and put her earphones down in her pocket. "But why can't I sing it? You sing really good, mate. How can ya make and sing ya songs so good?"

I flushed lightly. Hearing that people thought I sung well was still something, I have not gotten used to yet. I shook my head, sat on my suitcase and looked very down.

"Mate, are you okay?"

_'Do I look okay? Geez, Marine.' _I thought as I closed my eyes and sighed out.

"Just… leave me alone. Go ahead without me. I will catch up to you." I said and slowly opened my eyes, staring in rather sadness at the green glowing grass beneath my feet.

"Are ya sure?"

"Yes, I am sure!" I said very frustrated at the brown and concerned young raccoon.

"Okay, okay. No need to be angry, grumpy." Marine said irritated, took her brown jacket over her shoulder, put her white earphones in her ears again and began hearing music while pulling her green suitcase behind, grumping under her breath as she walked away.

Once she was out of sight, I sighed, stood up and began walking deeper into the ruined castle. Behind it, in the old castle gardens, I found a secret waterfall there last time I was in Soleanna. That is where I decided to let my sadness out. It is so calm and peaceful there; nobody to disturb you and you can just let everything out.

Getting there is not that difficult. Just through the ruined castle, across the gardens and then you are there.

I took my suitcase with me since I do have all the Sol Emeralds in it. Or, most of them I have. Marine has one and I have two on me. Once I get to Soleanna Castle, I will ask Princess Elise if she can help me protect the other four by spreading them out in different locations of Soleanna or something like that. If somebody tries to steal them, then it will be safest to keep them apart so that thieves will have to find them while I know exactly where the other emeralds are.

...

The water ran down the waterfall all peacefully. Birds sang and a nice breeze blew through my coat. It was very warm, almost too warm, so I took my purple coat off, revealing my blue t-shirt with golden flower patterns on. I had white jeans on instead of my usual tights and white sandals, with a little heel on, on my feet and my belly slightly exposed. Along my arms, mostly my upper ones, I had my fiery marks, glowing a weak orange colour from the curse I was born with. Usually, I hide my marks under my purple coat or a cardigan. However, since nobody is around it does not matter if I do not have anything covering my arms.

Seating myself on a rock, I took my sandals off and gently I placed my feet down in the warm water, feeling it rushing through my thin fur. I sighed sadly and looked at my reflection in the clear blue crystal water. A little tear escaped my eye and I closed them, getting the feeling that I wanted to scream. Instead of screaming, however, I began singing slowly and rather sadly.

_I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house, that don't bother me.  
>I can take a few tears now and then and just let them out.<em>

_I'm not afraid to cry every once in a while even though going on with you gone still upsets me.  
>There are days every now and again I pretend I'm okay, but that's not what gets me.<em>

_What hurts the most was being so close.  
>And having so much to say. And watching you walk away.<br>And never knowing what could have been.  
>And not seeing that loving you is what I was trying to do.<em>

Small sniffles escaped my throat as I opened my eyes, looking at the tears dropping from my chin and into the water. I began stroking my finger over the rock, imagining my love in my head.

_It's hard to deal with the pain of losing you everywhere I go. But I'm doing it.  
>It's hard to force that smile when I see our old friends and I'm alone.<em>

_Still harder getting up, getting dressed, living with this regret, but I know if I could do it over  
>I would trade give away all the words that I saved in my heart, that I left unspoken.<em>

I sang the last part with a very cracking and tearful voice before breaking into tears, hiding my face in my palms and placed my elbows on my knees. Then I shouted in frustration, slamming my hand down in the water, stood up and threw a rock as hard as I could out in the water, crying with pain. I squatted myself down, hiding my face while cursing myself for being such a coward back then.

"Why? Why can't it be different? Silver!" I cried and continued to cry into my palms.

Being apart from him for so long have been a real challenge for me. Not having a best friend to rely on, was the most painful thing ever. Especially because he was the only one who could understand me. Comfort me. Help me. Even protecting me from any harm, any danger there were. But most of all, it hurt me so bad that I never could tell him what truly was on my heart. How much I deeply loved him.

In the back of my head a voice talked to me, which belonged to my mother.

_"Now remember, Blaze. Do not cry, no matter will happen to you. You have to be strong; otherwise your flames will bring devastation to our world."_

"I don't care! I don't care about anything anymore!" I shouted and sitting down on the ground, leaning against a tree, trying to dry my eyes off with no luck. "I don't care that I will cry sorrowful tears and release Iblis inside me!"

I hide my face in my knees, causing my pants to get dirty because of my light make-up streamed down my cheeks and my mascara getting wet, making me black around my eyes. My flames inside me began heating up as I became very much emotional, which I always tried my best not to be. My marks glowed a slight stronger orange colour from my anger and sadness.

_'No, Blaze. You have to be strong. You have to overcome this and move on. Oh, who am I kidding? I can't move on without him!'_

Slowly, I pulled the silver Sol Emerald out of my pocket and held it to my chest with closed eyes and my head placed against the tree. The emerald started to glow brighter and filled me with all kinds of hope inside me. I exhaled deeply, taking in some shaky breaths as I began returning to myself. There is a reason for why the Sol Emeralds are called the hopeful gems. Every time you feel lost and about to give up hope, they bring back the light, refilling your mind with hopeful thoughts. Just like Silver always did to me.

"No, Blaze. You can't do this to him. Not after what you did to his future, you can't let Iblis escape your soul and let him destroy it again." I sniffled and tried to wipe the remaining tears away while thinking on the man I loved, wishing him to be here with me just once again.

The emerald glowed brighter around me and soon I watched an illusionary Silver approaching me, sitting on his one knee while the other one he had his arm over and stared smiling at me, wiping the remaining tears away.

"I'm always there for you, Blaze. Even though I'm not physically there for you, I will always be in here." He said while smiling with loving eyes at me and placed his hand against my chest on the left side of it, feeling my heartbeat.

I glanced down at his hand then back up at him and reached my hand out to his face. I went right through it, feeling nothing but the wind blowing against my hand. Slowly, he vanished away, leaving a weak teal colour behind him while saying the same thing.

"I'm always there for you. Always."

The glow from the emerald vanished and I could clearly see that I sat on the same spot here in Kingdom Valley, sitting against the tree with a running waterfall in the background. I let a tear fall, tightened my grip around the emerald, stood up, took my suitcase, sandals and coat, and began walking out of the gardens, towards Soleanna Town.

Hiding behind the waterfall was a dark figure, chuckling evilly as it saw the princess walking away.

"Well, now I have my target if my main plan should fail. But that's unlikely." The person laughed darkly, disappearing into the shadows, waiting patiently for the perfect time to strike.

* * *

><p><strong><em>200 years into the future. Shadow's house…<em>**

"What?!" Silver shouted in disbelief, having his eyes huge and shocked from the horrifying news Shadow told him.

According to him, the Scepter of Darkness was stolen last night from G.U.N.'s Top Security Lair of Dangerous and Uncontrollable Objects. Shadow believes that it is most likely a person as Doctor Eggman Nega who is responsible for this. However, the most horrifying about this news is that Nega has possibly decided to release whatever is inside the scepter. If he tries to do that, then the evilest and creepiest creature on Earth will be freed into this world once again. Who it is, is easy. It's Mephiles, Mephiles the Dark. The one who tricked Silver three years ago and made him believe that killing Sonic would save his future.

Silver continued to talk rather loudly in disbelief.

"But that's impossible! No one can break into GUN's base and steal something as important as that! It's just not true!"

"Well, I'm afraid it is! Now listen to me, Silver and stop acting so naïve all the time!" Shadow shouted as he leaned over the coffee table, slammed his hands down in it and stared into Silver's startled and slightly hurt golden eyes. "What Nega wants with Mephiles, I don't know. But since you and I are the ones who knows both of them the best, the general of GUN has decided that we are going to sneak into Nega's base, infiltrate it and find the scepter before it might be too late."

Shadow kept staring rather coldly but serious into Silver's eyes as he knew that this was critical.

Silver himself stared back into Shadow's crimson eyes, sighed and looked down while closing his eyes, bringing his hands to his head and stroke them down to his mouth with deep in thoughts.

"I guess I don't have a choice, do I?" He said and glanced up at Shadow again who slightly smirked. "All right, Shadow. Since I'm forced to go with you, I have to ask when we are leaving."

Shadow stood straight, still staring into Silver's eyes for a few more seconds and walked over to a cabinet, took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the cabinet. He then searched for something in the back of it, found it and threw a cyan Chaos Emerald to Silver while putting the green one down in his own pocket.

"Hmph. We are leaving now." Shadow said as he took a gun and tucked it down in his other pocket.

"What? Now?"

"Yes. The sooner we leave, the faster we will find out what Nega is up to and prevent him to release Mephiles." He said and stared at Silver again, who looked rather shocked that they were going now.

"Just be careful, Shadow." Tikal said worried and hugged her fiancé. Shadow hugged her back, stroke his hands to her cheeks, moved her head up so that he made direct eye contact with her and moved closer, kissing his beloved fiancé passionately.

"Don't worry, Tikal. I will." He said smiling at her before kissing her once again. This time on her forehead.

"Daddy, are you going on a mission again?" Maria asked as she and her brother, Eclipse, stood down in front of their parents, looking a bit down at the news that her father was leaving so soon.

Shadow sighed while looking at his kids, squatted down to their level, pattering Maria's head with a smile on his lips.

"Don't worry, Maria. I will come back sooner than you know." He said and brought his daughter into a warm hug.

"Are you gonna kick eggy's butt?" Eclipse said in excitement, imagine on how that would look like. He is totally a daddy's boy. Shadow chuckled.

"Yeah, I am. If I don't then he will take over the world." He said and rubbed his son's head with his fist while slightly laughing.

For Silver, seeing Shadow actually laughing and having a good time was something that was rare. Widening how close this family was to each other, made Silver think back to how he lost his own as just six. He never knew anything about his dad since Iblis killed him when Silver was very little. His older brother disappeared one day without telling their mother on where he was going. And his mother, oh his mother was the person who always stood Silver the closets. She sacrificed herself to save his life back when she send him into a different dimension. He grew up on an orphanage until he was 12 and went back into his own world with Blaze to save it. But that wasn't so much on his mind at the moment.

He stared out the window, seeing that the sun was slowly slipping behind the horizon.

_'What are you up to this time, Nega? What is it you want with Mephiles?' _He questioned himself and slowly closed his eyes with his arms crossed. He sighed as his thoughts continued. _'If Mephiles gets out of his prison, he will definitely try to find out who the vessel to Iblis is. *mental sigh* Blaze. I hope you are okay.'_

Speaking about Blaze. The reason why Silver came to Shadow's house in the first place was so that he could find out why he could communicate with her through the emerald he held in his class. But have he gotten any answer? Nope. He didn't even had time to ask Shadow about that, and right now wasn't the perfect time to ask him either.

"Silver. Silver!" Shadow shouted, bringing the albino hedgehog back to reality.

"Huh?" Silver said and turned around to see Shadow's annoyed face expression. "What?"

"Oh, so you've finally decided to stop daydreaming." He said in great annoyance.

"What? I didn't daydream!" Silver shouted in rather annoyance and frustration as well.

"Whatever you say. We are leaving now, so get your ass over here so we can get going." Shadow said very irritated.

Silver frowned in annoyance, walking out the door with Shadow, grumping under his breath as he held the cyan Chaos Emerald tight in his hand, lifted off and began flying after Shadow.

Once Silver caught up to him, he asked where Nega's base was.

"On the very outskirt of the city. Shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes…" He said and turned towards the white psychokinetic hedgehog, who flied beside him, while giving him a smirk. "… If you're slow."

Then he accelerated to high speed, skating through New Westopolis with Silver close behind him as he leaved a yellow stream of light behind him. Silver accelerated his speed as well, leaving a teal glow behind him as he speeded after Shadow.

...

Sitting in her room and building further on her device that should be able to hack into all kind of computers, Kristine spotted two lights almost side by side, moving at high speed and a strong wind blew through her window from their fast moves, causing all her assignments and blueprints to fly around inside her room.

"What the…?" She said and hurried to her window, narrowing her eyes and spotted the two lights getting smaller as they speeded out of the city.

Kristine hurried out of her room, down to the garage and readied her plane as fast as she could, jumped into it and pursued the yellow and teal lights.

_'That teal light… it must belong to Silver. I wonder what he is up to this time. Well, better see he isn't gonna get himself into trouble as usual.'_

It did not take her more than a few minutes before she found them standing in front of an old ford of some kind, deep inside the nearby forest.

_'What in the world is he doing out he so late?' _Kristine questioned herself, narrowing her eyes and saw what looked like a silhouette standing beside Silver. That person turned his face into the sky since he heard a propel noise. Silver turned his attention up to the dark sky as well.

"Well, looks like they spotted me. Then I will just go down there and see what he and his friend are doing." She muttered to herself as she began heading down towards the ground.

Down on it, Shadow asked Silver in irritation on why his friend was here.

"Hey, don't ask me. I didn't invite her." Silver said in defense.

"Silver, what in the world are you-" Kristine stopped there as she got out of her plane, seeing that this other person was Shadow.

"Hmph. We should be asking you the same thing, girl. Now get away before Nega's mechs shows up." Shadow said cold hearted and stared in anger at the seventeen-year-old grey raccoon girl.

Silver groaned in annoyance, slowly beginning to walk over to his friend.

"Listen, Kristine. Shadow and I are on a mission here."

"What mission?" Asked Kristine as she crossed her arms, looking doubtful. Shadow huffed in irritation.

"That's our business. Now get home. It's too dangerous for you to be here." He said with deadly eyes. However, Kristine was a not a person you could get rid of that easy. She has helped Silver before when it was dangerous situations, so nobody should tell her what was dangerous or not. She could take pretty good care of herself in a fight.

"Ha! I know clearly, what is dangerous for me, Shadow. I have fought against Nega's machine before." She said and huffed, as a girl would do when she gets offended. Shadow began to growl in anger, thinking that her way of acting towards him was unacceptable.

"Okay, okay. Let's not start fight already. Kristine, why did you follow us in the first place?" Silver asked as he went between the ebony hedgehog and the grey raccoon, preventing them to tear each other apart while staring at Kristine.

Kristine lowered her guard down, which caused Shadow to do the same thing, but hesitated halfway. Kristine sighed.

"Well, I was going to make sure you wouldn't bring yourself into trouble, which you are very good at." She said, causing Silver to act rather nervous as he began scratching his neck and gave a goofy nervous smile. "But, since you are going to infiltrate Nega's base, I just thought that I will go along with you guys."

"What?!" Shadow said in great irritation, glowing slightly red. "What makes you think that we will just take you with us like that?"

Before anybody could say anything more, gunshot came from the robots that appeared in a few seconds, aiming for the trio that was about to break into the base and the alarm went off.

_"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Hostile forces are trying to penetrate the Nega Ford! All units in that area prepare for an immediate assault!" _

_'Oh, great.' _Silver thought after he avoided some bullets, took a bunch of the upcoming ones and fired them full speed ahead at the many robots while Shadow used his acrobatic skills, kicking and punching the robots as he warped from enemy to enemy if they were slightly far away. Kristine used her gear and machinery, placed them behind the robots as she ran past them and used her acrobatic moves to move around without being injured, pushed a button and made the robots explode to bits.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Back to present time. Soleanna Castle…<em>**

Staring out on the water from my room's balcony, slightly daydreaming, I wore blue shorts, same t-shirt and a white to very light cream coloured open loose cardigan that went down my arms, covering my marks.

I sighed as I heard the recognizable voice, hearing that there was concern in it.

"Well, Blaze, I got the emeralds save but you still look very sad. More than usual." The 21-year-old girl said as she entered the room, walking towards me out on the balcony. She stood beside me, seeing that I just stared down at the ground, not being afraid of how high it was as I leaned over the fence. "What's wrong?"

This girl has red short hair, blue eyes, kind-hearted and is a human being. On her feet, she has white and golden sandals with a heel on; her legs are exposed from her knees while the rest is covered with a pair of short very light grey pants. She has a white tan top with glittering golden stars on. It might be hard to believe that it is actually Princess Elise the Third, the ruler of Soleanna, in her casual every day clothes. I was surprised to see her have so casual clothes on because she haven't been so relaxed the other years I have visited Soleanna.

There was a little period of time where I did not say anything and just kept gazing at the sea and the town. I sighed in rather defeat in the end.

"Nothing. It does not concern you." I said quietly in sadness.

Elise became rather sad as she saw how much down her friend was. Over the years where Blaze has joined the Soleanna Festival, and being a part of the opening ceremony, Elise and her have become rather good friends. Even though they are very different, Blaze felt that she could rely on Elise at any point. She was almost like a big sister for her at times.

Elise placed her hand on Blaze's shoulder, causing the lavender feline cat to look at her hand then up on the worried human girl.

"But I am worried about you, Blaze. We are friends, and friends are here to help each other. I want to know why you are so sad." She said as she continued to hold her hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off, staring down at the ground with crossed arms and sad expression. I sighed.

"Well, how would you feel that the only friend you had, knowing that he meant everything to you, having to leave him behind and maybe never see him again? How would you feel?" I said as I turned my attention towards the older girl, seeing her rather shocked expression turning into misery while the tears slowly began to show along my eyes as not only sadness stamped from them but also anger.

Elise sighed, looking down at the floor, shaking her head and not knowing what to answer. Eventually, an answer did come from the princess.

"I… I don't know." She finally said in defeat, sounded like she had failed to cheer up her friend. I sniffled lowly, the tears slowly dropping from my eyes.

"Exactly. You have never experienced the horrible things I have been throughout my life." I said with anger mixed with sadness and depression as I turned around, walking towards the door with my hands turning into fists.

"Blaze, wait!" Elise said and grabbed hold of my cardigan.

"Leave me alone." I said in slight anger.

"But Blaze, I ju-"

"I said leave me alone!" I shouted and pushed Elise backwards so that she landed on her butt. However, in the process of her falling, she had her grip on my cardigan, making it fall off my arms as well.

Elise gasped and widened her eyes at the sight of my burning orange and flame formed marks. I gasped silently myself, looked at her for a brief second before throwing my hands around my arms, sprinting out the room while crying.

_'Why does it always has to be me?' _I thought as I had my eyes more or less closed, sprinted downstairs to the front entrance still having my hands around my arms and still crying. I didn't notice anybody on my way even thought there was somebody who waited for me in the hall.

I did not knew where I was running, I just ran away. Away from all the pain and sadness, these people caused me to have.

...

Hearing crying nearing her, the hedgehog named Amy, who wore red elastic shorts with white lines on the sides and a white t-shirt with a rosy heart in the middle while her stomach was slightly exposed, turned around to see a lavender colour stream past her. As she looked closely while narrowing her eyes, she had a feeling that she knew this person very well.

"Uh oh. This is ain't good." Marine said in worries.

"What do you mean, Marine?" Tails asked confused himself on what just ran past them.

Before Marine could answer, however, Princess Elise came running into the hall, leaned over legs while panting for air, still having Blaze's cardigan in her hand.

"Oh, hi Eli-" Amy said before she got interrupted by her.

"Where is Blaze? You haven't seen her, have you?" She asked in a very worried and desperate tone.

"Sorry, mate. But she ran out a second ago to the town." Marine said in a sorry tone.

Elise groaned loudly in shame, taking her hands to her head and shaking it.

"Elise, what's the matter? Was that Blaze who ran by while crying?" Amy asked. Elise looked up from the ground stroking her hand over her head, while having a rather tense expression.

"It was. It was not my meaning to make her cry. I just wanted to know why she was so sad." She said in deep guilt. Amy, Cream, Tails and Knuckles, half widened their eyes at the princess in disbelief. "I tried to talk to her, but she pushed me back and I accidently pulled her cardigan off, revealing something I think I shouldn't say."

"Uh, now it ain't good." Marine said in worries again. They all turned their attention towards the worried young girl, confused and curious on what she meant by that. "Blaze has her marks on her arms that glows an orange colour and they're formed as small flames. She tries to hide them from people. Even from her friends."

"You mean it's her pyrokinesis?" Cream asked, with her chao Cheese in her arms, wearing a white and orange dress with a light blue tie and with orange lines on the white top part of the dress while it was yellow lines on the bottom orange part. On her feet she wore orange and yellow sandals with a blue ribbon on each and in her hair she had wrapped two blue ribbons around her ears as well.

Marine nodded in rather defeat at the rabbit's question.

"But why would she hide it? I mean, she knows we trust her, right?" Knuckles said in big confusion while rubbing his head. He wore a red shirt and dark blue pants.

"She trusts us, but she might fear that we will abandon her if we knew about her secret."

The gang turned around to see Sonic in blue pants and a white t-shirt where it stands "I RULE!" with black letters on the front. As usual, he still have his red sneakers on. In his arms, however, he is holding a little blue baby boy with three head-bangs on his forehead and pink at the end of his spikes, on a few months, struggling to keep him from crawling up his shoulder and sit on his head. At least the baby tried to crawl his way up to his daddy's head.

"Dash, no. Not up there. You know that." Sonic said in slight irritation and pulled his son down from his shoulder.

"Dashie!" Amy said in over joy and happiness, sprinted towards the two hedgehogs. As soon as Dash heard his nickname being mention by a very familiar voice, he turn around to see the pink energetic female hedgehog running towards him and his daddy with open arms. He giggled in happiness, squirming to get to her. "Hi, how's my little boy?"

"Yeah, that's right. Get over to your momma." Sonic said and handed his girlfriend their child. "Geez, that boy is more impatient than I am."

"Is that even possible?" Knuckles mocked, having his arms crossed and began chuckling.

"Shut up, Knucklehead." Sonic said annoyed.

Amy hugged Dash tightly while having a big smile on her lips. However, once she opened her eyes and stared at her boyfriend, she became very irritated, almost angry at him.

"Where have you been? I was worrying sick about you two!" She almost shouted. Sonic scratched the back of his neck in slight nervousness as a goofy smile appeared on his lips.

"Hey, I wanted to go and check out Soleanna and I couldn't just let Dash be alone." He said while slightly sweat dropping, still scratching his neck.

"Oh, is that so?" Amy said, as she had to bring her son more down in her arms and less up on her head. "How did you carry him?"

"Vanilla gave me this thing where you can hold the baby around your body. I forgot what it's called." Sonic said and tapped his foot while thinking on the name of that thing.

"It's called a baby carrier, Sonic. It's as obvious as it can be." Amy said as she sat over on a nearby chair, beginning to feed her baby.

As people saw that Amy was about to breastfeed her baby, Tails, who wore grey pants and a white t-shirt with a blue vest on and still had his red shoes with white toecaps on, quickly cupped his hands around Cream's eyes while blushing slightly at Amy's way to just do things when people least expected it. Cream blushed herself as he covered her eyes, yet she was very confused over why he did that. As for Marine, well, the red echidna took care of that problem by covering her eyes as well.

"Ey! Move your hands away from me eyes, redhead!" Marine scolded as she tried to hit Knuckles with her basking arms. Knuckles completely ignored her, just thinking that she might beat Charmy in irritation.

People just stared at Amy as she feed her baby the most naturally way that had even existed on this planet. She looked up as she noticed how quiet everything went.

"What? Have you never seen a mother nursing her baby?" She said in slight irritation at all the glares and huffed as she returned her attention towards her little baby hedgie.

Finally, Marine succeeded to hit Knuckles right in the stomach, knocking the air out of him.

"Ah. Now I can see li-," She said before she stopped in mid-sentence, staring at Amy giving her baby food from her breast. She blushed madly and turned around staring at Knuckles who gave the "I told you" look. "Okay, now I understand why ya covered me eyes."

Amy took her bra back on after her baby burped, yawning as he lied closely to his mother while trying to stay awake.

"Aww, somebody is tired here." She said as she gently tickled Dash's stomach, causing him to giggled while slight yawning. She looked up, seeing that Tails was still covering Cream's eyes while Marine covered her own with her back turned against her. "It's okay, you guys. I am done now."

Slowly, the two hands that covered each person's eyes, got down, seeing a happy Amy holding a tired Dash in her arms as Sonic stood beside her, rubbing his son's nose.

Cream broke the silence as her thoughts went to her lavender friend who was out there and crying.

"I am not here to be rude, but shouldn't we go and look for Blaze?" She asked in shyness, holding Cheese a bit closer to her.

"Chao!" Cheese said in agreement, beginning to struggle against Cream's tight hold. "Chao, chao chao!"

Cream released her grip around Cheese, so that he could fly over his owner and smile cheering.

"Ya took the words outta my mouth, Creamy!" Marine said and smiled while puffing to her arm, taking her camera out and took a picture of the couple in front of her. "And voila! Another picture to my book!"

Everybody made a WTF look at Marine, thinking that what she just did seemed very familiar to what a certain bee always did. Knuckles face palmed.

"Don't say that she does the same thing as that annoying Charmy always does?" He said loudly in irritation, not knowing who came flying in.

"I'm not annoying!" Charmy Bee shouted behind the red echidna's back, causing Knuckles to shout in surprise as well as jumping a meter backwards, turning quickly around to see, in Knuckles' opinion, the most irritating creature on the planet. "Oh, and who does the same thing as me?"

Once he saw the baby in Amy's arms, he quickly got his camera out, flied close and took a picture of the couple and their baby.

"Charmy, don't you-" Amy said before the blitz from the camera came, causing her and Sonic to cover their eyes. The little boy in her arms started to cry at the flash since it was something that scared him. "No, no, no. Shh, Dash. Shh. Mommy's here. Don't cry."

Amy began rocking her son in her arms, trying to calm him down while giving Charmy a death glare.

"Oi! That's a funny camera you got there, mate." Marine said and pulled Charmy aside. "Are you taken pics to a photo book?"

"Nah. Or, a bit, I do. I mostly do it to get some good shots at people when they least expects it. Look at this. Oh, I've tried to take a picture of Vector all the way over here, but look what he did every time I was about to take a picture of him and Cream's mum, Vanilla together. Vector has a huge crush on her, btw." He said in an teasing manner and showed Marine some pictures of Vector putting his hand over the camera so that you couldn't see anything but his hand.

"Aww, what a wet blanket he is, eh?" Marine said in rather disappointment but began laughing when he manage to get a picture of him stumbling over his own feet

"You don't say." Charmy said in irritation.

"Anyway, we should get going and look for Blaze." Sonic said so that the awkwardness would disappear.

"Right. Elise…" Amy said and turned her attention towards the 21-year-old red-haired girl with a Dash who had fallen asleep in his mother's arms. Elise looked over at Amy. "Do you think you can take care of Dash while we are out looking?"

Elise widened her eyes in surprise, not expecting her pink friend to ask a question such as that.

"Uhh… I have no experience with babies." She said in embarrassment while flushing slightly.

"Oh, Amy! My mother can take care of him!" Cream said in delight and got closer to the female hedgehog with glowing eyes.

"Oh, yeah. That's right. Now we just have to wait for her." Amy said in slight annoyance and stared down at her sleeping baby.

No sooner did she say this before they all heard two recognizable voices entering the great hall they were in.

"Thank you very much for helping me find my way, Vector. You are such a nice gentleman." Vanilla said and smiled with closed eyes, her attention on the green crocodile. Vector scratched the back of his neck in slight embarrassment, flushing lightly.

"Aww, it's nothing really." He said and smiled himself.

Marine and Charmy gave each a sly smile, saying that they both knew what to do. Quickly, they got their cameras out and took a close up picture of this couple-to-be. Maybe.

"Say cheese!" They said in unison and their blitz went off.

Vector's eyes got huge when the flash came and began rubbing them, trying to take in what just happened while Vanilla was smiling the whole time. Once he got to himself, he stared rather angry at Charmy.

"Charmy, what've I told you about taking pictures of me?" He said in great irritation. Then he noticed the young smiling raccoon beside him. "Who's this?"

"Name's Marine, mate. Charmy here and I are beginning to become very gooood buddies. Right, matey?" She said and wrapped her arm around him. He began laughing.

"Yeah, you bet we are! Hey, Vector! Marine likes taking pictures too, you know. Now I'm not the only one!" He said and made a somersault in the air in joy. Vector groaned when he heard this news, saying that one Charmy was bad enough, but now there were two of them, which makes things a lot worse.

Amy cleared her throat as she began walking towards Vanilla.

"Anyway. Vanilla, do you think that you can take care of Dash for Sonic and I while we all are searching for Blaze?" She said and gave a nervous smile to the adult rabbit, slightly handing Vanilla her son.

"Of course, I can. But what happened to Blaze?" Vanilla asked as her smile slowly vanished while gently taking Amy's blue and pink boy.

"It's my fault. I tried to help her but she refused and I accidently got her cardigan off, revealing her flaming marks and it made her quite upset." Elise said in deep guilt while looking down at the marble floor and scratched her arm.

"Hey, everybody makes mistakes. You just tried to help her. Nobody is angry at you." Sonic said and gently he placed his hand on her shoulder. Elise looked down at Sonic, the hedgehog she had fallen for a few years back but have gotten over it, looking into his green eyes and noticed that he become rather taller by now. Sonic winked and gave her a thumb up. "Just smile, Elise. Everything will be okay."

Elise cracked a smile and nodded at Sonic, giving him a quick friendly hug. Amy frowned slightly in jealousy.

"Thank you, Sonic." Elise said and broke the hug.

"Anytime." Sonic said and began running towards the exit. "Now, are you guys coming or what?"

People slightly laughed as they ran out of the hall and after Sonic, hoping that they would be able to find Blaze. However, as Charmy and Marine saw Vector walking shakily towards Vanilla, they decided to hide behind a few pots to see what he was up to.

"Uh hi, Miss Vanilla." He said nervously.

"Hello again, detective Vector." She said while giggling, causing Vector to flush and for the two kids to hold back their laughter as they saw how mad he was blushing. Vanilla continued. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, uh you see, I was wondering if you would like uh…" He began, finding it very difficult to ask her out on a date. Then he said something completely different from what he wanted to say. "If you would like some help?"

_'What the hell are you doing, Vector? That wasn't a part of the plan!'_

Vanilla smiled while holding the baby in her arms.

"Well, sure. I would love some help from you. Come with me." She said and went up the stairs where a baby room should be in the same room where Elise had offered Amy and Sonic to sleep.

"Right. I'm right behind you." Vector said and began slamming his head at the staircase. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

The kids could almost not hold back their laughter anymore, and hurried outside where they began laughing their butts off.

"Did ya see his face?! Blimey, that was just priceless!" Marine said as she held to her stomach, crying slightly from so much hysterical enjoyment.

"Oh, yeah! Haha! That will always bee here! Get it. "Bee" here!" Charmy said and burst into more laughter. Marine could almost not breathe from, in her opinion, Charmy's funny "bee" jokes.

"Oh seven seas! You're making me crack!"

They tried to get back on their feet, beginning to walk towards the town while supporting each other and trying to catch their breaths.

...

**_Deep inside Soleanna Forest…_**

Sitting in front of a small lake against a tree, sat the feline and cried her tears off in pain.

"Why can't they just leave me for myself? It is much better that way." I said whimpering, sniffling all this time while hiding my face in my knees and my arms around my legs as I just pressed my head down in my bare lavender knees.

After Blaze arrived at Soleanna, she manage to get around the question on why her pants were all dirty from her make-up and her eyes black. She did not need to change her shirt but she did change into a pair of dark blue shorts while she had white converse on instead of white sandals.

I do not know how long I cried, possibly for ten minutes before I started to calm a bit down, still sniffling as the pain of losing my friends almost bored into my heart.

"Chao?"

"Chao, chao."

I looked up from my wet knees, seeing a few chao had gathered around me, looking miserable, confused and curious at me. I tried to dry my eyes off so that I would not worry the cute chaos more than they already were.

"I'm okay." I said with a slight tearful and hoarse voice as I stared at my shoes. "No need to worry about me."

The chao did not believe anything I told them. Some of them flied close to me, trying to console me. One even placed itself on my chest, hugging me with its small blue arms. I smiled weakly before it disappeared, letting some tears fall as I tried to hold them back, and hugged the little caring chao in my arms, beginning to slight cry again.

"Chao, chao, chao." It said as it pattered me near my shoulder. I smiled as I saw the chao smiling cheering at me as if it would tell me that everything would be all right.

As the other chao saw how sad I was, they gathered around each other, beginning to discuss on how to make the lavender mobian cat girl smile again. At last, they came to a solution, saying their usual "chao, chao, chao!" and went into the bushes, the trees, everywhere, finding more chaos. Hero chao, dark chao, the neutral blue and yellow chao, even mobian look-a-like chao.

I looked up from the little chao as it flied out of my hands, smiling as it went down to the others. Staring between all the chaos in front of me, I noticed something special about some of them. I saw a chao who looked a lot like Sonic and an Amy chao who hugged it tightly to her before she jumped unto his back, getting a picky back ride, which made me smile slightly. A Knuckles chao played in the water with a Rouge chao, having a battle between them as they splashed water on each other and leaped onto each other as well. A Tails looking chao helped a Cream looking chao to her legs, teaching her how to swim as he blushed lightly. A Marine chao running away from a bee chao as they were playing tag. An orange-looking echidna chao with purple eyes and a black hairband on its head, jumped into the water near the Rouge and Knuckles chao were fighting, staring to fight with them too. Another orange echidna chao, just with blue eyes, sat beside a Shadow chao, trying to start a conversation and she even made him smile a bit.

"Heh. They remind me about some people I know. Except for the two orange echidnas there and that bee." I said loudly to myself as I just stared between all the mobian look-a-like chao. A thought hit me, making me think if there was a chao that looked like me. And maybe one of Silver too.

My question got an answer quite quickly as I heard some chaos shout in the bullying way at a purple cat like chao. My eyes became glass like as I saw the poor chao that was my version of a chao.

This little Blaze chao began whimpering as she ran around the chao garden, trying to get the bullies off her tail, but she fell, and the hero, dark and neutral chaos caught up to her. The Blaze chao began crawling backwards and bumped into a tree, staring in fright at the four bullies in front of her.

A lot of flashbacks came back to me and I was getting a Deja-vu. I quickly dried my eyes off, stood up and began taking some steps towards the helpless Blaze chao. This chao was me in mini version and I couldn't just stand back and let the bullies harm her.

Just as I was halfway there, a silvery hedgehog chao came to the kitty's rescue, shouting at the bully chaos that they should leave her alone… in chao language, of course. My eyes widened and I gasped silently as I stopped up seeing that the dark chao was the leader was the last one to leave but eventually did it as it saw its comrades was not there anymore. I collapsed to me knees, just staring at the Silver chao helping mini me to stand up and she hugged him and slightly began to cry but quickly wiped them away and stared smiling at the Silver chao.

The tears was flooding over my eyes as I saw them having a sweet conversation, before sniffling very loudly and hid my face in my palms, crying lowly again.

_'Silver. Oh, Silver. I miss you… so much.'_

Seeing that the lavender feline cat became very upset again, the chaos stared in confusion at each other, not knowing what could help this poor and hurt girl. The Amy chao and Sonic chao, as well as almost every one of the mobian look-a-like chao, went closer to Blaze trying to find out what could help her. She opened her eyes as she heard laughter coming from the two chao, seeing how much they reminded her about Silver and her when they were children. As she gazed at the pair, the other chao followed her, seeing that she was staring at the Silver and Blaze chao. The Sonic chao called them over to him, saying that it was important… in chao language.

Once they were close to them, the Sonic chao pointed up on me, seeing how hurt I felt as I kept staring at the silvery hedgehog chao in front of me. The Sonic tried its best to explain the situation and as he was nearly done, the Silver chao stared up at me, confused on why I was so sad and took a few steps closer to me.

My voice was shaking and tearful. Very carefully, I reached my hands out to the chao that looked so much like the man I loved so deeply, bringing him up to my face and stared into those naïve golden eyes before bursting into tears, hugging the chao tightly to my chest.

The chao could almost not breathe because I knocked the air out of him from that huge surprise, but as it saw how hurt I was and looked down at mini me then back at me, it noticed how familiar and similar we looked and acted. It looked sad up at me, hugged me and tried to comfort me and console me the best way it could.

"Chao, chao. Chao, chao." It said in a consoling way. In English, it was saying something like, "Easy, easy."

I opened my eyes to see how sad it looked before clenching my eyes, bursting into even more tears as I hugged the chao very tightly.

Now the Silver chao had almost gotten enough. It basked with its arms, saying loudly that it could not breathe from the tight hug in its mother language. I broke the hug slightly, looking down at the chao catching its breath while I sniffled very loudly, talking with a very hoarse and tearful voice.

"I'm sorry, little guy." I said as I stared at the chao I held close in front of me instead of having it tightly to my chest. Our noses almost touched as I continued to talk to it. "You just…_*sniff*_… You just reminds me about the man I love so much. You see… I lost him."

I broke into tears once again, bringing the chao under my chin and hugged it tightly again.

The Silver chao looked very miserable and surprised at me then down at the Blaze chao, who flushed violently, then back at me again. A bulb lighten above his head and he smiled at the idea, leaned forward and kissed my cheek, causing me to break the hug while looking very surprised at the chao and flushed myself as it lowered itself down to the other chaos, telling them about his crazy idea. The Blaze chao did not like the idea that much but agreed to help them since she was going to play a big part in this.

Many chao gathered around the Blaze chao, who stood in the middle of this circle in the water, looking very nervously as it took some deep breaths. Before I knew, what was going on, music began to play and the Blaze chao began to sing very beautiful. It was a slow song and it was full of love. My eyes widened, as I knew the melody.

"That… that's my song." I whispered in disbelief. I was very confused about this. How could these chaos know about my love for singing?

The Blaze chao stopped singing and pointed at me to my big surprise. Every pair of eyes went to me, expecting **me** to sing.

"Chao, chao!" The Blaze said in nervousness, hoping not to sing one more time. In English, it would say something like, "Come on!"

My eyes widened again as I began to understand what they wanted me to do.

"No, no, no, no, no. I am not singing." I said in slight embarrassment, bringing my knees to my chest. The many chao began to groan in disappointment. The Silver chao went over to me, placing itself onto my shoulder and began smiling very cheeringly.

"Chao!" It said in excitement, sounded like it believed in me. I bite my lower lip in nervousness flushing lightly as I looked at my shuffling shoes before I returned my gaze to the smiling Silver chao.

"I don't know. Do you think I can do it?" I asked it, hoping that it would act just as Silver always did. It smiled and made a somersault cheering for me. I smiled. "Okay, I'll do it. But start from the beginning."

The music started to play and soon I began to sing a little slow, yet I sang with my heart.

...

Only a mile away from the lavender feline, Blaze's friends were looking all over for her. Those who searched in the forest was Sonic, Amy, Elise, Cream, Charmy and Marine. Charmy and Marine were lost since they began searching a little later than the others but found Sonic, Amy, Elise and Cream at the entrance to the forest. They keep calling for their friend, hoping that they would find her soon.

"Who are you looking for?"

The six people span around to see the ancient princess echidna, Tikal, standing in a white top with green hemlines on the top and bottom part and a green flower in the lower left corner. She had a green skirt on, and her legs exposed as she had white sandals with the usual white straps up on her legs. Along her arms, she had white fabric wrapped around them with green hemlines on top of it and had green band wrapped around her quills and a green necklace too.

"Tikal? Is that you? Boy, you've changed." Sonic said in surprise, causing her to flush lightly as she played with her quills.

"Yeah, it's me. Who was it you were looking for? Blaze?" She asked in confusion, not knowing who Blaze was.

"Yes, that's her name. You don't happen to have seen her?" Elise asked the echidna.

"She's a lavender cat and has a blue shirt and darker blue shorts on." Marine informed her.

Tikal took her finger to her chin, thinking that the description sounded familiar. Her eyes widened and a smile appeared on her lips.

"Now that you mention it, I have." She said in joy, smiling at the group who have gotten closer to her when she told them the news about that she actually had seen her.

"Where? Where is she, Tikal?" Amy asked with her hands interweaved and looked begging. Tikal giggled and motioned them to follow her.

The apricot echidna girl leaded them a bit deeper into the forest, telling them that she had seen Blaze near the chao garden Tikal had left for a second and saw her crying in there. Tikal was very afraid of getting close to her since she saw some strange glowing marks along Blaze's arms, which rather scared her.

"I bet she is very upset right now." Elise said miserably as she glanced at her feet, walking behind Amy who walked behind her boyfriend who walked behind Tikal. She sighed.

"She was when I spotted her." Tikal said as she pushed some boughs away, trying her best not to hit Sonic behind her but the bough slipped out of her hand, causing it to go directly at Sonic, knocking him a meter backwards and land on his butt in front of Amy. "Ops. Sorry Sonic."

Amy helped her boyfriend up onto his feet, brushing the most of the dirt off his clothes and looking at his face where a little cut went under his eye. She took a small tissue out of her pocket, made it a little wet by duping her tongue on it, before cleaning Sonic's wound

"Ames, I'm okay. No need for that." Sonic said and tried to push Amy's hand away while flushing slightly. Amy ignored him, continued to clean his wound.

"Nonsense. Now stand still so I can clean it, Sonic." She said in slight irritation, her focus on the small cut. A flashlight made Sonic eyes huge and he rubbed them, looking over at the two kids who tried to hold they laughter back. He groaned in irritation and Amy rolled her eyes, as she knew what just happened.

A few minutes later, Amy put a plaster along the cut and kissed it afterwards, causing Sonic to smile as he scratched his neck in slight embarrassment, flushing as he looked into his girlfriend's green eyes, giving her a kiss on the lips as a thanks.

Amy smirked, making Sonic very confused. Before he knew it, Amy leaped onto him, bringing her arms around his neck with closed eyes and kissing him directly on the lips, pushing her tongue against them for entrance to his mouth. It did take Sonic a few seconds to realize what just happened, but smiled, wrapped his arms around her back, closed his eyes and began feeling her tongue against his own as they both began to moan.

Ten meters away, stood the four mobians and the human girl and watched the lovebirds sharing their passion. A bulb lighten above Charmy's head and he began snickering. Marine looked at him, knowing that he thought the same thing as her. They both took their cameras out again, tiptoed closer to the couple. Out of nowhere, the flash from Charmy's camera came and Amy and Sonic shot their eyes open, breaking very slowly apart that some saliva hang between them. Another flash came and Marine and Charmy lied on the ground holding to their stomachs as they laughed uncontrollably hard.

Amy and Sonic both blushed as they wiped away the saliva as quickly as they could, trying to avoid each other's eyes. As Marine and Charmy still couldn't catch their breaths, the couple frowned and looked irritated at the two kids walked past them, Amy behind Sonic.

"Blimey! No, wait you guys!" Marine said between her laughs before bursting into more laughter, stood up and began walking with uneasy moves towards the other with Charmy, both laughing so hard that they began to cry slightly.

Amy and Sonic ignored them, rolling their eyes as they began walking with Tikal, Cream and Elise further into the forest with two laughing and irritating kids some ten meters behind.

Some time went by before Tikal began telling about what she saw when Blaze arrived at the Chao Garden.

"She cried very hard, speaking that it would be much better if you all leaved her alone."

"Yeah, but we don't want her to be so anti-social as Shadow. Besides, we know she is deep pain since she lost Silver so we will try our best to cheer her up." Sonic said as he held some boughs aside for Amy, Cream and Elise and ran up to Tikal again.

"Silver?" Tikal questioned as she placed her finger on her chin.

"Mr Silver is Blaze's absolute best friend. She sacrificed herself to seal a monster away with her in her own dimension. That's what I've heard." Cream said in slight sadness as she hugged Cheese who looked slightly down too.

"It's the Flames of Disaster, also known as "the Iblis" in the future according to Silver." Elise said as she jumped over a fallen tree. "Silver is a hedgehog with five front quills and comes from 200 years into the future. But now Blaze is the new vessel to the flames and she mustn't cry sorrowful tears or else the world is doomed."

"Yeah, and then Silver will have to find a new "Iblis Trigger." I don't want him think that one more time!" Sonic said as he remembered what happened three years back.

Tikal listened closely, thinking that this Silver person looked like someone else she has seen.

"Hmm." She said.

"Don''t say that you know him cause I'm pretty sure you don't." Amy said as she saw how thoughtful Tikal looked. She turned around.

"Well, no. But the description for him sounds almost like a chao I have seen." Tikal said as she stared into Amy's green eyes for second before moving on.

"A chao like Mr Silver?" Cream asked, as she looked curious at the orange echidna. Tikal nodded.

"Yes. I saw Blaze hugging it as she cried even harder, saying that he reminded her about someone she lost, which must be this Silver you all are talking about." She said as she knew that they were close the Chao Garden.

"Uh. Poor Blaze." Cream said as her ears went down in sadness.

"Aren't we there soon?" Charmy complained as he and Marine finally caught up to the others, feeling exhausted. "My wings are all tired out and my feet are killing me."

"So is mine." Marine groaned with him.

"Actually we are here n-" Tikal stopped her sentence as she heard someone singing. "What's that? I think your Blaze is singing."

Their heads shot up as they heard her say this and listen closely to the singing voice, nearing it further and further. Tikal pushed gently some bushes aside and quite well, Blaze was sitting with all the chaos and singing as the chao rocked from side to side in the rhythm to the song.

"Is that…" Amy asked quietly as she and the others stood closely to Tikal. "Blaze?"

...

I petted the Silver chao while smiling sweetly at him as I reached a point that was about Silver actually.

_As insecure, as you are  
>I built a wall so nobody could find my heart<br>But we found ourselves where we tried to hide_

_A Force of Nature_

_A hurricane with just a word  
>A waterfall with all of the hurt<br>This love is… this love is…_

_A Force of Nature_

_A tidal wave caught in a storm  
>That washed me up onto your shore<br>This love is…_

_You are my oxygen  
>A love that never dies<em>

_We're crossing rivers at sunrise_

_A hurricane with just a word  
>A waterfall with all of the hurt<br>This love is… this love is…_

_A Force of Nature_

_A tidal wave caught in a storm  
>That washed me up onto your shore<br>This love is… this love is…_

_A Force of Nature_

Then all the chaos start cheering at me, jumping around in joy and start singing a little lullaby, which made me giggle with them.

Out of nowhere, I heard applause coming from the other end of the garden and flashlights came there too, causing the chao to hide in water, in trees and in bushes. An orange echidna told the bee to stop taking pictures since it scared the chao very much.

"Whoa, Blaze. I never knew you were that good at singing. That was epic."

I turned my attention towards the voice, seeing it was Sonic who talked and behind him was Amy, Cream, Elise, Marine, a bee and an echidna.

My eyes widened and a gave a scream in surprise, quickly covering my arms and jumped high into a tree, looking slightly down to the ground where they all ran to the tree I was hiding it.

"What the heck? What was that about? I just gave her a compliment." Sonic said as he stared in confusion at his girlfriend. Amy sighed and shook her, looked up in the tree with concerned eyes.

"Blaze, what's matter? We've been looking all over for you and now you're hiding from us again. Please come down. We are friends." Amy said in a begging way having her hands to her chin. I sniffled loudly, while holding around my arms, not wanting them to see how horrifying I looked.

"Go away." I said very lowly in sadness making it almost impossible for them to hear.

"Please come down, mate. Nobody wants to hurt you." Marine almost shouted up to the tree I hid myself in.

"We here to help you, Blaze." Cream said as she released her grip on Cheese with her hand just underneath her mouth.

"Chao, chao. Chao."

My gaze went to the ground where I saw the Silver chao flying up to me.

"That's the one I was talking about." Tikal said and pointed towards the silvery hedgehog looking chao that flied up into the tree where Blaze sat and cried off her pain. "But now that I think about it…" She said and turned towards the many chaos that looked at them. "Some of these chao do look a lot like you all."

As the chao got up to me, it looked rather sad because I was it. It got closer to me and I reached my hands out to it, bringing it into a hug afterwards, closing my eyes and began cry again. The chao tried it best to console me, comfort me, help me, but it did not do it well enough. Having this little chao in my arms did cheer me slightly up, but at the same time, I became sadder because it reminded me so much about the real Silver. That man I wanted more than anything and loved him so deeply. The person who could make me smile, make me laugh, and make me feel home. I wanted him more than ever. To be with him is all I wish.

Hearing that I began to cry, the mobians and human down on the earth became very sad as they could just see me hugging the Silver chao in my arms, crying with so much sadness and pain.

"Whoa. I knew she missed Silver but not this much." Amy said in depression, wishing that there was a way for her to help Blaze.

"For what I know, he meant a lot to her. Possibly everything." Elise said as she remembered back to what Blaze told her about losing her absolute only and best friend.

Tikal stood beside them all, looking up into the tree where she could see Blaze who whimpered her love's name repeatedly, with deep in her own thoughts, thinking there lied something even deeper than just a very strong and close friendship for her. Then she widened her eyes as she came across one of the strongest emotions ever. Love.

_'Could he really mean that much her? Could she be in love with him? Yes. That must be it. Or what?'_ Tikal thought as she pondered about this for several minutes. She did not notice that the others had decided to get Blaze down and talk to her. Or, at least get up to her and talk.

"Sonic. Elise. Help me up, will you?" Amy said as she was about to climb up into the tree.

Sonic stood on one side of her, took her foot with Elise standing on the other side of her, taking her other foot, and then they both pushed Amy up so that she could get a good hold around a bough.

Holding the little sweet chao close to my body, whimpering and crying my sadness out, I did not notice Amy was a few meters away from me.

"Blaze, please stop crying." She said in melancholy. I span my head around seeing that she sat on a bough close to the one I sat on. I released the chao and quickly I covered my arms, moving out on the bough. "Blaze, stop moving away from me. Come on. Let us talk."

"I said you should go away. Please. Leave me alone." I whimpered as covered my one arm while I held my other hand to the bough, looking slightly down and realized how high I actually was. I tighten my grip on the bough, gulping in nervous as I stared up at Amy who moved closer to me.

"Amy, leave me alone!"

"No, Blaze. You're hurt and we want to help you. Come on, tell me. What's wrong?" Amy said stern yet her voice was full of concern and sympathy. My mind told me that she was tricking me and moved more out on the edge, while my heart told me that she was actually trying to help me and not harm me.

Before I knew, and all the others, what happened, I fell off the tree as the end of the bough broke. I screamed as I closed my eyes, covered my arms and feel towards the ground.

"Blaze!" Sonic shouted as he jumped into the tree, stood on a bough, jumped off it and caught me in mid-air, landing safely onto the ground and gently he placed me onto it.

As soon as I felt the grass underneath me, I looked up in fright, crawling backwards until I stopped as I bumped into a tree. I curled myself almost into a ball, lying sideways against the tree with closed eyes and arms still wrapped around me as I shook in fear and started to whimper in fright.

"Blaze?"

I cracked my eyes slightly open seeing that my friends stood there and looked very shocked at me, as they had never seen me scared for anything before. However, for me, my friends were replaced by some bullies I had known when I was younger. There they stood and laughed at me as everything around us was dark and hopeless. I saw the leader step forward with his a fist ready to punch me. I shut my eyes and cried as I begged him to leave me alone.

"Please don't hurt me!" I said in a tearful and very scared tone as I held tightly to myself, letting the fearful tears escape my eyes as I curled into a ball.

My friends widened their eyes in surprise, just looking at me and how badly I was shaking from fear and crying with that feeling too.

"What the heck does she mean?" Charmy said in confusion, sweat dropping at the way Blaze reacted.

Before they could answer the bee's question, they heard another cry just smaller and was full of pain and fear. They turned their attention towards a little group of chao that was teasing and slight beating a Blaze chao at the other end of the water.

"No! Don't do that!" Tikal said loudly in sadness and ran into the water since it was the quickest way over to the helpless chao. However, before she reached the other end, the Silver chao from earlier jumped in front of the Blaze chao in a very protective way, shooing the other chaos that bullied her away as he scolded on them, telling them that they she leave her alone. One by one, the bully chao walked away, disappointed in themselves. As the Silver chao turned around and asked the Blaze chao if it was okay, he did not get answer. Instead, the Blaze chao leaped onto him, crying onto his shoulder as she hugged tightly to him.

The mobians and human were in shock at the sight. They looked between the real Blaze then to the chao look-a-like, then back at Blaze again.

"Whoa. I never knew she had it like that." Elise sad in deep sorrow as a little tear escaped her eye.

"Now I understand why this Silver means so much to her." Tikal said as she turned around and began walking over to the others. "He was her only friend. The only who didn't tease her."

"Uhhh…. I feel sorry for Blaze. How can someone be so cruel?" Cream said while slightly crying and looked at her lavender friend who still cried from deep fear, still shaking terribly as well. She then ran over to her, collapsed to her knees and hugged her best friend. "Oh, Blaze. Please don't cry."

"G-G-G-Go away." I said as I continued to shake in fear and my eyes still shut.

"But it's me, Blaze. Cream. I'm your best friend." Cream slightly whimpered as she hugged me tightly.

My eyes shot open as she said best friend and I thought immediately on Silver. Once I looked down, I realized who it really was.

"C-Cream?" I whispered in disbelief. She looked up at me with her own slightly wet eyes, nodding as she smiled. I looked around me, still covering myself, and saw that these people were not the bullies I used to know. These were my friends.

"Amy? Sonic? Elise?"

They all nodded and Amy joined the hug too, pattering my back as I burst into tears. It did not last for so long and slowly I started to calm down, still whimpering in shock.

Amy said beside me against the tree as I leaned against it while Sonic squatted himself in front of me while Elise stood behind him and Marine sat on her knees. The bee flied closer as it stared at me in curiosity while the echidna sat beside Amy.

"Hey, it's okay, Blaze. You don't need to be scared. We're your friends." The echidna said as she placed her hand on my knee. I looked up and met her cobalt blue eyes, seeing that they were almost as naïve as Silver's but that there was also trust in them. "I'm Tikal."

"Yeah, and I'm Charmy. Marine's friend!" Charmy said in joy, doing a back flip in the air. I cracked a smile, which quickly vanished. I shuffled myself a bit closer, feeling quite uncomfortable. I just managed to see a piece of fabric brought close to me. I looked slightly up to see Elise's guilty face, holding my cardigan out.

"Here. I'm sorry. But you need it a lot." She said in guilt as she scratched her neck. I hesitated before nodding my head slowly, reaching out for my cardigan and took it on.

"I… we…" Sonic began as he and the others just saw the horrifying marks on my arms.

"I know. I look horrible." I said with a very hoarse and almost cracking voice.

"What? No! That's not what I was gonna say, Blaze! It's just... I never knew you… looked like that."

"Sonic!" Amy said irritation as she thought that he just crossed the line while looking angry at him.

"It's okay, Amy. As he said, he did not know it." I said quietly in melancholy while looking at my bended knees.

There was quiet for a moment before we heard a cheerful chao.

"Chao, chao, chao!" The Silver chao said as it landed on my knees with a big smile on his lips as he saw that I was not crying anymore. I smiled and began petting him on the head, which caused his tail to wiggle like crazy, as it closed it eyes and just enjoyed the petting. I giggled as I how much he enjoyed it, thinking so much that Silver would do the same.

_'Silver…'_

I sighed and the smile vanished.

"You really miss him, huh?" Sonic said as he was petting the Amy chao, while Amy petted the Sonic chao and Elise petted the Blaze chao to cheer it up, telling her that she had friends.

I nodded my head, taking my hands around the chao and began stroking him along his head while I kept looking down on him.

"Say, Blaze. How long have ya known that Silver-block of yours?" Marine asked as she and Charmy were playing with the chao in the water. Charmy didn't want to go down in it, saying that his wings would get wet if he did.

I sighed again. This time in irritation.

"He is not a block. He is my best friend. And to answer your question, we have known each other since we were eight." I said quietly as I continued to pet the little chao, hearing him slightly purr. "Silver has always been there for me whenever I needed him."

"Well, he isn't here now." Charmy said to get a bit of attention. Everybody turned their attention towards the bee, looking very angry at him in the thinking that the lavender feline would get upset again.

"Charmy!" They said simultaneously in anger. Charmy was so startled that he lost his balance in the air, falling directly into the water. Once he got his head up, he spit a bunch of water out of his mouth as he had a lily pad on top of his head. Marine was laughing her butt off and quickly she got into land where her camera was so that she could take a picture of her buddy.

"What?"

They all, except Marine, rolled their eyes and groaned loudly in annoyance as their attention went back to the upset feline. However, she wasn't upset at all. In fact, Blaze was actually smiling as she stared into the forest then down at the purring Silver chao.

"Wait. You are… you are smiling." Tikal said in surprise, yet she smiled herself as she saw the pretty smile Blaze rarely showed to other than Silver. I turned my attention towards the orange echidna named Tikal, still smiling though, before I looked over at the annoyed bee who got irritated by Marine laughing at him.

"I disagree with you, Charmy. He is always here. He is just not physically here. But he will always remain inside my heart." I said and let my hand go to the left side of my chest where my heart was beating a little faster by now, beginning to warm my body all naturally by the feeling of love.

"Do you like him?" Tikal asked again, having a feeling that I was in love with him. I looked surprised at her, not expecting such a question and began flushing a very soft shade of pink as my heart began pumping like crazy.

"In what way?"

Tikal shrugged but kept her smile on as she petted the Knuckles chao on the back.

"Just like him."

I looked down at the Silver chao that just kept staring at me with slightly open eyes as he continued to purr at my way of petting him.

"Well, yes. He is kind. Caring. Very sweet. Determinant to the point of foolishness. Brave and… so naïve." I said, as I still blushed, looking with loving eyes at the chao I had in my arm.

"Naïve?" Cream asked in confusion. I began to giggle, as I knew that not many would understand why I liked Silver being naïve. I just did.

"Yes, he is very naïve and I… I like that about him. I think it… gives something special to him." I said as I smiled hugely, turning my head towards my very good younger friend.

Sonic smirked, thinking that I had feelings for Silver, which I have.

"Do you have a crush on him?" He asked as he rubbed his chin while showing that smirk with his teeth. I blushed strongly and turned away for a second before looking a bit angry at Sonic.

"Of course, I don't!" I said loudly in slight irritation, hiding very well what tried to beam out of me.

"Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah. So you say." Sonic teased at me. I huffed very highly in irritation and Amy puffed rather hard against her boyfriend's arm, causing him to wince at the hard puff. Amy gave him the glare that told him that he shouldn't begin on that thing with her. If she had a crush on her best friend, then they should find out of it in time.

* * *

><p><strong><em>200 years into the future. Inside the Nega Ford…<em>**

"Hey guys. I think I found his database." Kristine said as she walked towards a big computer where lights were flashing constantly. The two hedgehogs walked into the room, seeing a lot of books lying around as well as blueprints, possibly plans Nega have been thinking of. Kristine pulled a small device out of her pocket. She called it the prototype hacker. "Now let's see if this works."

She squatted under the computer, opened a little hatch and plugged the device into the computer. Immediately, a lot of green letters and numbers showed up on the screen with blackness as its background.

"Are you going to hack into his system? Isn't that kinda tough?" Silver asked as he stared at his friend tasting several buttons, concentrating on hacking.

"Well, yes. Now at days, it is very difficult to hack, but this device should help me a lot… if it works that is." She said as she stared at all the buttons her fingers went over.

"If it works?" Shadow said in an angry and irritating way.

"Hey, I just finished working on the prototype today. You be glad that I hack into computers quite often." Kristine said and glanced at Shadow. "Whenever I have to." Then she went back to hack Nega's computer.

Within minutes of concentration, Kristine managed to break down the barrier and was now in Doctor Nega's computer, searching for his dairy.

"Okay. Silver, I think you might want to see this, though I think it may shock you greatly." Kristine said in a bitter voice as she looked behind her to see the albino hedgehog. He began walking towards Kristine with a surprised and confused expression. Shadow got over and picked up a book, skimming through the pages in simple curiosity about why Nega was so interested in Soleanna and its past. Then, when he found a page where there stood a lot about the Solaris project, which was crossed out with a pen, his eyes widened.

_'The Solaris Project? No, it's not true!' _Shadow thought in slight panic, which wasn't his usual style as he continued to go through pages even faster. _'The Scepter of Darkness... Mephiles the Dark... The vessel to the Flames of Disaster: From 1996-2005, Princess Elise the Third. From 2005 and ahead, Unknown.'_

Something hit Shadow as he remembered how Silver had told him countless of times that his friend Blaze sealed Iblis inside herself three years ago, since she was royalty and had the ability to control fire. Pyrokinesis.

He was about to call Silver over to him, but it looked like that he and Kristine had figured the same thing out as he just did.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading this and remember to review. It really helps me a ton.<br>**  
><strong>Property to Astral-Blaze. Please, do not copy without permission.<strong>

_Trivia Time!_

_Sorry for the very long chapter. On DA, I had to split the chapter up into two. ^^;_

_So, yeah. The plot is slowly taking it's form and the excitement might begin to creep into a few of you. I do hope you enjoy it though. As I've said before, the previews two chapters, plus prologue, was some of the first pieces of work I ever did. The writing is beginning to be better in this chapter and I am sorry it might confuses some of you guys. I switch from first person to third person way too much in this chapter, especially when the focus is on Blaze. But the focus is not on her all the time, and when it isn't, it means it's in third perspective. There is only one more chapter where it's on first person perspective, and that is chapter 4. After that, I write completely in third person perspective. It will be easier for you guys to understand, but it will also be a lot easier for me to write. _

_One more thing! The further yo read this story, the better is the writing. _

_I will write like this all the time from now on too! ^^_

_Katerina Oestergaard is gone. Bye bye!_


	4. Resurrection of an old Enemy

**Elemental Flames**

_Chapter 4 - Resurrection of an Old Enemy_

* * *

><p>Skimming around my surroundings, I found myself in a big metrological city. Probably "present" version of New Westopolis or something like that. Looking at my left, I saw a sign where it stood "Welcome to Empire City!" with big fat letters.<p>

"Empire City, huh? Well, gotta start somewhere." I said loudly to myself, lifted off and levitated over the skyscrapers.

Once I got on top of one of the large buildings, I heard screaming from lots of people down the streets. As I looked down, I spotted the reason on why they were screaming in terror. Apparently, robots were destroying the city, leaded by a person I do not know who was. Quickly, I flied down there, slammed, punched, kicked through the machines and used my powers to lift the robots and collide them with the others.

_'Well, I didn't exactly expect to get into a fight with his robots right away. Or what? Are they Nega's mechs? They could be Eggman's.'_

My question got an answer right away, and all I had to do was looking up. Glaring upwards after I had defeated a bunch of blue Egg Fighters in the area, I saw a big aircraft, possibly something that could be Eggman's Egg Carrier, hearing the less crazy scientist talking through his speakers.

_"HOHOHOHO! That's right! The evil Doctor Eggman is back and I am better than ever! Surrender your city and I may not destroy it. Fail to do that, well, then I will just crush it and build my new Eggman Empire right here! GWAHAHAHA!"_

Rolling my eyes in annoyance, I groaned at his speech. Guess he hasn't changed his plans about world domination just as Nega. Then again, they are family. My ears twitched as I heard a familiar and slight seductive voice talking behind me.

"Looks like eggy will never give up on his Eggman Empire plan. Or what do you think, Silver?"

Turning my head around, I spotted the white flirting female bat, Rouge, who is a jewel thief, part-time government agent working for G.U.N., and self-proclaimed treasure huntress who plans to make all the gems and treasures of the world hers. She has a weak point for the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald which Knuckles guards on Angel Island. Her usual contoured black jumpsuit with a pink heart covering her cleavage, are switched out with a pink tan top underneath her black vest which she can button and has a collar on it. Along her legs she has black pants that goes down in her usual white boots with a pink heart as toecaps, and a dull blue belt with a heart in the middle of it around her waist. Along her arms she still has her long white gloves and around her wrist she has a communicator, which she uses when she has to get contact to G.U.N. or its agents. She still wears the same make-up as always. Powder blue eye shadow, pink lipstick and mascara.

"Rouge? Long time, no see I guess."

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back in your own time and take care of Nega?" She asked as she had her arms crossed and walked over to me with a seductive glare which almost made me flush, though I gulped a bit in nervousness when I saw her like this, hearing the high-heels walking across the asphalt. Scratching my neck, I gave a goofy nervous smile at the 21-year-old female bat.

"Ehe. Well, you see. The thing is that-"

_BOOM!_

Our little conversation was interrupted as some explosions came from the other robots that appeared and soon, we were surrounded by them. Turning her back against me, we pressed each backs against each other, staring between the many robots that surrounded us completely. Some were flying above us so it was more difficult to escape.

"I need back-up at downtown! Robots have completely surrounded us and we can't escape! Shadow, do you copy?" Rouge said through her communicator bracelet and start kicking through the robots that ran towards her. Using my Psychokinesis, I picked up the running robots and threw them back at their companions, using them as projectiles. Once I was out of psychokinetic energy, I had to use my fists and feet, kicking and punching through the many blue surrounding robots as Shadow taught me back in the future. Rouge and I continued to punch and kick our way through the many enemies, to almost no avail. Shadow did tell Rouge that he would be there as fast as he could, but that he had his hands full at where he was so he had to destroy Eggman's mechs first before helping his friend out.

How long we did this, I don't know. Only that I began to feel slightly worn put as the robots kept reappearing. I could use my powers to make a psychic shock wave but it would be too risky to do that since I didn't had enough Psychokinesis recharged inside me and if I did it, then I would most likely pass out from the sudden outburst of both Psychokinesis and Chaos Energy.

...

"Shadow, where are you? We can't hold back the robot much longer!" Rouge shouted through her communicator once more, falling down to the ground as she felt slightly worn out from using her wings so much.

"I'm busy!" He shouted in slight aggression through his communicator to her, followed by a loud shout as he began unleashing his Chaos Power, causing the connection and the communicator itself to break.

"Great. What do we do now?" Rouge growled slightly in irritation, feeling the pain and exhaustion kicking in on her.

"I guess we just have to keep fighting! We can't allow Eggman to win!" I shouted to her, feeling slightly exhausted myself. It's not very often that I get into such intense battles with Nega, but every time I did, it always ended the same way. Often I would find a way to beat him and feel so exhausted from that long fight that I could pass out, or Shadow would come and take care of him for me.

Rouge grinned at my determination as she continued to fight, finding some confidence in what I said.

"Same old Silver. Doesn't give up no matter how dark or tough it look. You haven't changes one bit. Only that you are faster and using hand-to-hand combat. That's a new one. It actually fits you."

Groaning slightly as I felt the exhaustion coming up, I took around one of the many robots arms, swung it one time and threw it so it landed in the middle of a bunch of its comrades, making a slight explosion and the nearby robots exploded as well.

"Well, I can thank the Ultimate Lifeform for that." I said while smirking as the sweat ran down my forehead, glaring at Rouge who looked slightly surprised that I mentioned Shadow was the reason that I have gotten so much better at both controlling my powers and at my combat oriented area.

"You're kidding me." She said as she slightly laughed, having a slight fun time as she and I continued to fight for the sake of this city. I shook my head, grinning at how much Rouge didn't believe in me.

"Nope, I am not kidding you. He is… the reason that I… have become… so good at… fighting." I said between my breaths slight smiling as I stopped for a second to catch my breath, dodging the robots attacks before returning punching, kicking and slight using my psychokinetic powers on them.

"Never knew Shadow would be so nice in the future." Rouge said as she fell back down on her butt, slide kicked through the enemies that approached her before jumping to her feet and continuing to use her kicks and screw kicked through them from above.

"Tell me about it. Once I got back to the future… I figured that he and this ancient echidna princess named Tikal, were together and already had a kid on a year and that Shadow had made her pregnant again." I said as I smirked when I saw Rouge's jaw drop to ground and her teal eyes went huge in shock about how little she knew has happen in the future and that Shadow had, or will, actually become a father someday.

While she was totally lost in her own world of disbelief, a blue Egg Fighter took the opportunity to slam her all the way to the other side of the street, knocking her almost out coldly.

"Rouge!"

Before I could go after and rescue her, a large red blast caused me to fly all the way into a wall, groaning in deep pain as I landed on my stomach on the hard ground, having my eyes shut. Slowly, I cracked opened them as I heard a person nearing me with his shoes making sounds as he walked over the cracked road. Some coughs came from the girl he rescued before she hit the ground, having bruises over her face and small cuts along her arms. This girl was none other than Rouge and she was carried by an ebony hedgehog who had red lines along his spike, arms and legs, though the later one was hidden by his long dark grey pants and having nothing but an open black jacket on his upper body, exposing that tuft of white fur on his chest. His eyes were a crimson read, filled with anger the most of the time, though only the closest to him knew that there was also some very deep sadness and sorrow in them from his horrible past.

Rubbing, my head with slight closed eyes and bruises all over myself, I sat up while groaning with one eye closed as I looked up at the black hedgehog who still held the white bat in his arms, staring in both curiosity and slight annoyance at me.

"Shadow." I choked after Rouge managed to choke the word thanks out of her to her friend. Shadow sighed as he placed the bat down on her feet, seeing her coughing after the battle as the big outburst from Chaos Energy still filled the area.

Looking down at the ivory bruise filled young hedgehog, Shadow sighed in slight annoyance as he looked emotionless at Silver, reached his hand out to help the younger one stand up. Silver accepted the hand, feeling Shadow pulling him rather roughly up to his feet as he still rubbed his head in slight pain. Looking from the hedgehog to the bat, Silver realized that they kind of craved an explanation on why he was in the past instead of being in his future to fight against Nega and sighed in rather defeat yet he felt very embarrassed for some reason.

"What are you doing here?" Shadow asked in his usual cold and dark voice, causing me to feel a chill running down my spine as my ears slightly lowered and I gulped in nervousness while scratching my neck again.

"Well, same as last time."

"It's Nega, isn't it?" Rouge said as she placed her hands on her hips, smiling slightly flirty at me, which made me release a nervous and goofy laugh. I took a deep breath to calm down before speaking.

"Yeah, and it's worse than ever." I said in slight misery yet I felt my anger building up and they could clearly see the disgust in my eyes.

"Hmph. Whatever it is, you can do it alone, Silver. I don't have time to stop your crazy scientist. I just managed to get the Doctor away from the city and I don't want to go on another hunt for his insane descendant." Shadow said coldly and began walking away as he send a text message to GUN that the mission was successfully accomplished through his cell phone since he accidentally destroyed his and Rouge's communicator bracelets when he was up in Eggman's ship to stop him.

I was shocked to hear him being so impassive. That wasn't the Shadow I used to know. But whatever reason he had not to work together with me, I had to convince him that this was serious. Quickly, I ran up to him, standing beside him and tried to explain him that it was very critical.

"But, Shadow, you don't understand. This is serious."

"Serious my ass. You can handle Nega alone, can't you?" He said coldly again, glancing at my sad and shocked face with Rouge walking beside him. I began slowing down as my confidence sank to its lowest and I looked with miserable eyes after the pair.

"Sorry, Silv. But we got a lot of work and cases to do today." Rouge said as she saw me stopping up, glaring behind her with her hands on her hips before looking back down the street and continued to walk beside Shadow.

I felt like I had gotten a punch right in the stomach that would knock the air out of me completely. Feeling the frustration coming up, I held my head and shook it while growling in slight anger before letting myself glow a cyan colour and disappearing. I warped myself in front of Shadow and Rouge, looking very angry and serious as I almost shouted in their faces.

"Don't you understand that this is critical?"

"Move aside, Silver." Shadow growled as his eyes showed nothing but irritation. I glared over at him, showing him nothing than my irritation and frustration as well.

"No way! You are the one who send me back in time to stop Nega since he stole the Scepter of Darkness, which contains Mephiles inside it, last night!"

"What? I didn't… wait. Mephiles?" He said in shock as his eyes filled with slight hidden horror yet there were some great confusion and disbelief in them as well.

Slowly, I nodded my head as I saw both Shadow and Rouge looking very surprised and Rouge almost looked creped out as she shivered at his name. I sighed as I let the glow disappear, showing some slight anger and irritation yet there was some sadness and concern in my eyes.

"Nega managed to get into G.U.N.'s Top Security Lair of Dangerous and Uncontrollable Objects, which was where the scepter was kept. His intention is most likely to release whatever's inside it. Not only will he release Mephiles from his imprison, but Nega has found out about the Solaris Project which took place 13 years ago in Soleanna." I said rather slowly and a bit lowly so that it was only me, Shadow and Rouge who would be able to hear it.

"The Solaris Project? Wait, Eggman tried to get hold of the Flames of Disaster from Elise three years ago. You don't think that Nega is trying the same thing as Eggman did?" Rouge asked with concern as she talked with small worries in her voice. My ears lowered and my eyes showed nothing but defeat and concern as well. I sighed in deep defeat.

"I'm afraid he is trying to get hold of the Flames. Only now, it's not Elise who is the vessel, but… it's Blaze he is after." I said as I looked in misery at the ground, my body language showing how worried and concerned I was that Nega should get hold of Iblis. But most of all, I was most concern of what he might do to Blaze to get the Flames of Disaster out of her. I don't want her to get hurt and I will do anything to make sure that she won't. Because, she means everything to me. I love her.

"Oh, I see. You are concerned that Nega will harm her and that's why you are in the past; to stop him from getting hold of Blaze." Rouge said in a flirty tone as she walked around me, looking with persuaded eyes at me.

A small blush appeared at my muzzles as I scratched my cheek.

"Well uh,… partly. I am here to prevent him from releasing Mephiles and Iblis and take over the world. But I don't want him to hurt Blaze, I will admit that." I said as I looked at Rouge who stood in front of me with her hands on her hips, seeing directly into my golden eyes with her perfect teal coloured ones. I tried to move my eyes away, but hers just bored into mine.

"Yeah, so you say. I want to know something, Silver. Do you have a crush on Blaze?"

My eyes half widened and I became almost stiff as I flushed even worse and I began feeling my heart going crazy as I knew that Rouge hit my right spot. I gulped as I looked into her eyes, seeing her smile as she began chuckling under her breath.

"N-No! W-We are just friends! That's all!" I said stuttering as I managed to move my gaze away from hers, feeling like I was heating up as I know that what I just said was partly a lie. Sure, Blaze and I are just, long lost, friends, but I always wished that we could become more. Maybe be an item. A couple. But that has always just been a crazy dream. Blaze doesn't see me as more as her best friend from childhood. Does she?

"Hehe. Whatever you say, Silvy." Rouge said and blinked her eyes repeatedly at a fast pace, holding her hands over her chest with her fingers interweaved and looking as flirty and romantic as she could. I began sweating. At least it felt like I was, and I began blushing even crazier as she said this. Luckily, Shadow had gotten enough of Rouge's teasing, though he found my nervousness and mad blushing a rather enjoying sight.

"Rouge." He said with closed eyes and arms crossed. Rouge looked over at the ebony male hedgehog, seeing that he thought her action was rather childish. Shadow reopened his crimson eyes, staring in annoyance at the female white bat. "Just, shut up."

Rouge half widened her eyes in surprise and frowned afterwards. Shadow looked over at me, seeing that I felt very embarrassed and still was blushing like crazy. A smirk appeared on his lips as he liked to see me "suffer" in the teasing manner.

"Though it was very enjoyable to see you blush at a question about if you liked your friend." He continued while chuckling rather coldly and with his mouth closed. I gulped as my eyes widened again and my strong blushing appeared once more.

"I don't love her!" I shouted in embarrassment as I glared at Shadow who was chuckling at my behaviour.

"Who said anything about love? All I said was that you blushed at a question if you **liked** this Blaze." He said as he continued to smile at my very embarrassed face. I tried to find some words but all that came out was a big groan as I took to my head, feeling like the biggest idiot on Earth. Shadow continued. "You are still naïve as ever. More than Knuckles and his gullible actions."

"At least I don't blush anymore when people tells me that." I said in annoyance as I had my arms crossed and looked at the asphalt.

"I disagree." Rouge said and took a little round mirror out of her pocket and showed my red reflections. Immediately, I began rubbing my cheeks, hoping that my blush would disappear.

"Very funny. You are the one who made me blush from the beginning." I said in irritation as I glanced up on Rouge's smiling face as I continue to slight rubbing my cheeks and my blush became softer and softer.

Shadow cleared his throat before Rouge managed to come with more comments on my blushing face. We turned our attention towards the black hedgehog, seeing that he looked very annoyed and serious, slight angry as always, as he had his arms crossed.

"Can we quit this chattering and get on to the main problem?"

"Oh, right. Mephiles and all that." Rouge said as she realized that we were wasting time and put her mirror back in her pocket. She looked back at me. "But it's gonna cost you."

Sighing in annoyance and tucking my hand down in my pocket, I got hold of the cyan Chaos Emerald and, reluctantly, pulled it out, handing Rouge it as her eyes shined like a thousand glittering diamonds, bringing her hands together.

"Will this help you?" I said in bitterness, seeing how Rouge just stared at it as she was totally lost in her own wonderful world.

"My, my. A Chaos Emerald. You are so beautiful." She said and reached out for it but didn't really get hold of it before Shadow snapped it out of her hands, causing her to look very shocked. She soon realized what happened and turned quickly towards Shadow with disgust and rage in her eyes. "Hey, give me my Chaos Emerald back, Shadow!"

"Hmph. Like that's going to happen." He said emotionless as he kept his grip around it. Rouge sprang on him, trying to get the Chaos Emerald back from the man she had a slight crush on. Shadow pushed her back by putting his hand on Rouge's forehead, causing her to stand still. He told me to get hold of his shoulder so he could Chaos Control us away from here. I did as he told me to do as Rouge still tried to get "her" emerald back from him.

Holding the emerald upwards, it started to glow brighter, getting everybody's attention as they walked by us. In a second, we all were gone and tumbled down on the grey hard floor of GUN's base in Empire City.

"Now, hand over my emerald!" Rouge shouted in anger after she jumped to her feet and moved her head close to Shadow. He, however, moved the emerald further away from her, putting his hand against her again. Rouge stopped struggling, realizing that she wouldn't get it with force. She made the puppy eyes at Shadow. "Please, Shadow."

Looking at those puppy eyes that even Shadow couldn't resist, made him sweat drop and he tried his best to dismiss her. However, Rouge kept her eyes on Shadow, begging him to give her the Chaos Emerald very nicely. At last, Shadow gave up, sighed in defeat, which he hates to do, and gave Rouge her emerald.

"I need it for later." He growled after he released the cyan Chaos Emerald. Rouge returned to her flirty seductive self, stroking the emerald against her cheek.

"Thank you, Shadow." She said very flirty. Shadow rolled his eyes and turned towards the confused ivory hedgehog who sat on a chair and had watched the whole scene and tried his best not to burst out laughing.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it off. But that bat knows how to get her will." He growled as he saw me trying to act all innocent as I rocked from side to side on the chair. Rouge looked over at me, spread her wings out and flied close to me.

"Thank you for the Chaos Emerald, Silvy." She said very seductive, causing me to flush a bit and sweating slightly as I felt the nervousness coming up and i held tightly to the chair I sat on. Seeing her move forward, made me lean more backwards, but she moved to my ear, whispering the last part very seductive still. "I really appreciate it."

Then she placed a kiss on my cheek, causing me to flush strongly and shiver slightly after her lips detached my skin and she said see ya as she flied out of the data room. I shivered, sounding like I was freezing as I rubbed the wet spot on my cheek, feeling slightly creped out.

_'Think it's Blaze who kissed you. Fuck, I don't know how she kisses. Oh, Amanda kissed you. Amanda kissed you. Amanda kissed you.' _I thought to make it better. It didn't work that well but I felt less creped out as I thought this. I shivered highly again as I looked out the entrance Rouge flied through then back at Shadow.

"Is she always like that?" I asked rather scared as I continue to try and rub the lipstick away from my white cheek. Shadow shrugged as he rolled his eyes and leaned against the control panel with his arms crossed and he looked absolutely careless.

"Beats me. What were you thinking on after that? Was it that it was your friend Blaze who kissed you?" He asked and smiled mischievously as he saw me still shivering in slight disgust and fear.

"I will admit, I thought about that first. But I don't know how she kisses so I thought that it was my ex who kissed me." I said with closed eyes, rubbing my neck in slight nervousness, giving Shadow a rather shocked face expression. Guess people didn't expect that coming. Another thing that wasn't expected was Rouge gliding into the room again, getting hold of my teal chequered loose t-shirt and looked in big surprise into my golden eyes.

"You. Had. An ex?" She shouted in disbelief as she and I both fell to the floor, her on top of me. "Geez. Here I thought you were so naïve! I haven't had a boyfriend yet!"

Shadow's jaw dropped at the sight of us on top of each other, thinking that this is the weirdest day of his life. So was it for Rouge, and I. And Rouge has never had a boyfriend before? That shocks me since she does look… I don't know, sexy very often. Like she looks like a sex bomb with those huge boobs and her seductive personality should get every man she wanted. Guess the world isn't as simple as it may look at times

Something popped into Rouge's mind when she mentioned that she never had a boyfriend before. Smiling mischievously and flirty and seductive at me, Rouge brought her hands around my wrist, holding tightly to them so that I couldn't get free, staring into my nervous and surprised eyes as they went huge and I gulped.

"Oh. I think we can change that now." She said silently to me, looking very flirty as she neared my lips.

Seeing her closing in on me, my eyes widened and I sweat dropped as Shadow just stared at us with his jaw dropping. Quickly, I activated my powers and let a teal glow cover Rouge, pulled her off me, giving her a surprised, yet irritated face expression, and showing some disappointment at me.

"Sorry, Rouge." I said rather embarrassed as I had my eyes slightly closed, letting a nervous goofy smile appear on my lips. "You're just not my type."

"I'm nobody's type." She said as she looked rather sad at the ground, and her ears flattered against her skull. Under her breath, she mumbled that a person as Blaze was my type.

Only hearing that she was sad and that she said that nobody wanted her made me feel guilty somehow. I stood up, levitated Rouge down to her feet as she crossed her arms and looked down at the ground in slight misery. I moved her head up so we made eye contact, smiling cheerily at her as I placed my hand around her shoulder, standing beside her.

"Hey, cheer up. I am sure someone likes you just as you are. And you know who I think it could be?" I said as I put slightly weight on her shoulder as I stared with a smirk at Rouge who looked rather thoughtful and hopeful. "I think that a certain red echidna have a little crush on you."

A very small blush appeared on Rouge's cheeks as she brought her hand to her head, looking very lost in her world. I chuckled at how she looked which made her snap back to reality.

"And your crush is Blaze." She said as she looked slightly seductive at me, causing me to blush again and pull away from her.

"I already told that we are just friends." I said slightly embarrassed as I stared at the ground away from her, scratching my neck in slight nervousness.

An ebony hedgehog began losing his patience as he had his eyes closed, arms crossed and growled in irritation as we just continued to talk about unimportant everyday normal stuff.

"Shut up, already! We need to locate Nega's base." Shadow said while growling, looking very annoyed and angry at the ivory hedgehog and albino bat. They looked over at Shadow, realizing that they have wasted too much time already and listened very carefully to what Shadow said to them as they looked more serious than ever. Shadow glared over at Silver before continuing. "Any ideas on where his base could be?"

I shrugged greatly, looking absolutely clueless.

"None at all."

"Maybe he is using one of Eggman's bases. After all, they are not in bad condition and Nega will gladly make them to his own." Rouge informed as she stepped a little closer to Shadow with her arms crossed and she looked between me and Shadow. He rubbed his chin in thoughts, thinking it made quite good sense.

"That's not a bad guess, Rouge. Now, I suggest that we start looking at White Acropolis in Holoska. We might find more information about Nega's plan there."

"We? I'm sorry, you guys. I have to find a way to Soleanna. Nega has figured that every year the princess of Sol, which is Blaze, is taking part in the Festival of the Sun. I have stop him from getting hold of her… and of course also prevent him from releasing Iblis who is trapped inside her soul." I quickly added the last part while scratching my neck, just so it didn't sound like I was just going there to see Blaze, which was another reason on why I needed to get the City of Water. I want to know how she feels. How she looks and if she still sees me as her friend. But most of all, I wanted to see her beautiful face once again. Seeing how she is and if she has changed over these three years we have been away from each other. In that weird dream I shared with her, she seemed more sad and miserable; more heartbroken than ever. And she seemed so vulnerable. That wasn't the Blaze I used to know. She used to be a lot stronger than that and most of all, she always seemed to be rather happy.

"Ha. Tough luck. You're on the other side of the planet. It will take you at least a day before you reach Italy's capital, Spagonia, plus a few hours if you have to get to Soleanna." Rouge informed me as she had her arms still crossed and looked with pessimistically eyes. I looked up at her, didn't cared how long it would take me to get to Soleanna. I need to see Blaze. Just one more time.

"I don't care. I need to see her. I need to make sure she is all right and prevent Nega from kidnapping her just as Eggman did with Elise." I said very stern as my hands turned into fists and my eyes showing nothing but the determination I felt inside me. Also, I had to make sure that she wouldn't get hurt because I am too late to rescue her or something like that.

Seeing how stern I was and unwilling to go with them, Shadow sighed and searched for some keys in his pocket.

"Here. Take these." He said as he threw the small bunch of different keys to me. I looked up at him, confused on what I should do with them. Of course, if one of them is to a car then I can drive but that will just take too long to get to Soleanna. Seeing my confusion, Shadow continued. "We have a plane in the hangar that flies on autopilot to whatever destination on Earth you wanna go to. Though, they can only fly to wherever there is a GUN base. There is none in Soleanna but there is one in Spagonia. If you leave now you should be able to get to Soleanna late tomorrow evening."

Hearing this made me widened my eyes in surprise but quickly, they turned into delight. Never knew Shadow would give you something like this. I smiled as I nodded my head, feeling my heart beating very fast as I would finally see my beautiful love again after so long. I ran out of the room after Shadow told me where the hangar was and the password to get into it was, thanked him and ran as fast as I could down the corridors, past many humans and other mobians who just looked confused at me.

My heat kept pumping in faster rhythms as every step I took was one step closer to the girl I loved so much.

_'I will finally be able to see you again. Don't worry, Blaze. No matter where you are, I will find you. You can count on that.'_

* * *

><p><strong><em>Eggman's earlier base at White Acropolis…<em>**

Outside, the cold freezing wind was howling as a blizzard was slowly moving away from the base, the woods and the big area around the huge forest. This forest surrounded the base, making it almost impossible to locate unless you were flying over it. But even from the air it could be difficult to pinpoint where the secret base was since a barrier made the ford-looking base look completely invisible, camouflaging it from above to make it look like a part of the forest. From the ground, if you stand right in front of it, you may be able to see the base since it does not cover every part of it.

Inside it, the metallic hallway seemed empty and silent; only the sounds of machines being made by machines could be heard. Soon, the sound of footsteps from an elder, tall and bald-looking man, came across the metal floor, looking into the rooms and made sure that his robots kept their work at peace.

"Doctor Eggman Nega." A metallic voice shouted at the end of the hallway, standing at the entrance to the research area. The rather old man turned his attention at one of his greatest fighter robots, made from his own ingenious idea and by his hands he had created one of the strongest weapons against his enemies.

This robot was a silvery-looking metal hedgehog with no mouth, white muzzles, with five metal front quills and two in the back of its head and two on its back. His eyes were like a teal to light blue colour and his arms were grey metal as well and at end of them, the robot had golden cuffs on each wrist with a glowing teal line in the middle. On his hands and palms were a teal circle and his legs were made purely out of the strongest metal and he had navy blue metal boots with cyan metal toecaps, golden cuffs with a teal line in the middle as well.

"Ah, Metal Silver. Anything new on the results?" The old scientist asked as he approached his greatest creation, though even this robot couldn't destroy the original Silver the Hedgehog who he is copied after. Ironically, he has the same personality at times as the real Silver.

The silver robot nodded its head, showing his master into the room.

"Well, a few of the result have showed us that it's some kind of organism, yet it's almost like it isn't."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Nega said loudly in frustration as his hands had been behind his back all the time.

"Why don't you take a look at it yourself? The other of your failed robots fled in fear of it. Some scaredy cats you've created, doc." He said in a scornful tone, mocking his master at his poor work at times. There was one of the difference between Silver the Hedgehog and Metal Silver. Metal Silver likes teasing others, insulting them and mainly he do what he is asked to do. It happens now and then that he acts as naïve as Silver the Hedgehog and he is very determinate when he has a goal. He lets nothing get in his way no matter the cost of it.

"Why you little…" Nega said as his temper began getting to his head.

The silvery hedgehog robot just crossed his arms, looking like he was smirking as he looked at his creator getting red in his face. Nega took a deep breath to calm down and not letting his temper take control of him. Then he chuckled afterwards as he saw that his creation still is the best thing he had ever done, though he can get just as angry with the real deal himself. He cleared his throat as he walked over to the analyzer.

"Okay then. Let us see what it says just on the outside of this mysterious, yet powerful scepter."

After adjusting his glasses a bit, Nega took the pieces of paper that came from the analyzer, showing it was partly blank, partly showing that there was something "alive" inside that thing.

"Hmm. Now this is interesting. How can it be partly organic and partly not be?"

"It's just as I told you. I guess you need to open the scepter to see what it is." Metal Silver said in a sarcastic tone, crossing his arms as he laughed slightly under his breath, not meaning that his master should open. Something inside his metal brain told him that whatever was inside that thing, it definitely couldn't be good. However, Nega took this as a matter of course, thinking that he had been blind to think that and rubbed his chin then his grey old mustache, giving his high-pitched laugh a mild tone.

"Why, of course. That's actually something very good thinking there, Metal Silver. Now, let's make this machine open it." He said in his usual evil and high-pitched voice, chuckling as he pressed a few buttons, making a metal arm appear in the wall that slowly and carefully screwed the purple and silver metal cork off.

Metal Silver's blue eyes went huge at the pronouncement. Never had his master listened to him and now he did, though Metal Silver would never have him to listen to him in this situation. Sweat dropping he asked rather nervously the doctor if it was a good idea and if it would be safe to release whatever was inside the scepter.

"Metal, it knows what it's doing." Nega simply said as he and his best fighter stared at the metal arm screwing the cork off.

With a small Pop! The cork came off and almost immediately, the black liquid flood out of the scepter, flying around inside the chamber and tried to get through. Neither the doctor nor the robotic hedgehog had ever seen something like this before and became rather shocked at the liquid's behaviour that they stepped back. It appeared liquid but at the same time it held together like a solid. It also had a mind of its own. Inside the chamber the scanner beam went up and down, side to side, and finally it was done. It sounded almost like a snake hissing. The glass began to crack and soon the liquid plumped down to the floor as thick black smoke surrounded it.

Lying almost still at the floor, the very dark purple to black liquid began slowly to bubble slightly before they went faster and more repetitive, being larger and the puddle became smaller and smaller. The future doctor and his machine, widened their eyes in disbelief as they saw a dark shadow of some kind, forming from this liquid into a hedgehog shape who sat on his one knee, looking all slimy and lot of purple liquid-like. Soon the liquid went down into this male hedgehog's skin, beginning to take his form from the resurrection shade of the hedgehog's shadow he took years ago.

"What? Unbelievable!" Nega said loudly in anger and disbelief as he saw who he thought it was.

This hedgehog had grey-black quills with a pale dull power blue colour along his spikes, arms and legs. His white skaters and wrist bracelets have the same dull powder blue colour as his lines and the rings that are attached to his wrist an upper ankles are a grey-blue colour. Two lips formed across his dull muzzles that smiled evilly as he showed his rather sharp teeth. The cold emerald green eyes that hid underneath the dull grey eyelids, opened up and stared up at the insane and curious figure who wore a black and yellow jacket with bright red long pants covering his long legs and as footwear he had black and yellow striped shoes. As for his face, it looked rather old to be Doctor Eggman as for Mephiles knew, seeing that he had wrinkles on his forehead and a long grey mustache and as for the eyes, well, Mephiles didn't know his eye colour since he had pointy blue sunglasses covering them and green visor-styled goggles on his head. Slowly standing up with his hands being loose, Mephiles continued to smile evilly as he glared between the elder man and his hedgehog-looking silver robot who reminded him so much of a person he would like to get rid of once and for all.

"Shadow! Why you little… I shall personally make this your e-" Nega was cut off by this Shadow look-a-like dark laugh that made him and his robot almost shiver at how dark and cold it was.

"I see you have had the pleasure of encountering Shadow yourself. Haha! Doesn't surprise me you thought I was him. However, I am still very grateful that you've released me from my imprisonment of the scepter." Mephiles said as he stared between his hands and down on himself, admiring how much he could use this to his advanced again, and bowed at his last sentence before the person who has released him while closing his eyes in the process.

"Wait. You are not Shadow. Who are you? I demand an explanation immediately!" Nega shouted in frustration and confusion, causing Mephiles to laugh slight again as he slowly reopened his eyes, slowly turning his head upwards as he stared directly into the confused and frustrated doctor before him.

"I am Mephiles. Mephiles the Dark. And you are, doctor…?" He asked with his dark voice staring up at the old insane Doctor Nega who rubbed his long grey mustache rather proudly while Mephiles still bowing with his body and his arm under his stomach.

"Nega. Doctor Eggman Nega." He said very proudly as he smiled evilly back at Mephiles and stopped rubbing his mustache, bringing his hands behind his back, walking with long steps towards the smaller "mobian" who looked so much like Shadow. Mephiles raised himself, standing straight with his hands down by his side as he kept that evil and creepy smile on his face.

"Well, Doctor Nega, I am grateful for you releasing me. Being inside that scepter gave me some limits to move around." He said as he moved his neck around and made it say some crack sounds in the process as he kept smiling. "Say, you shouldn't know someone named Doctor Eggman? Apparently, it sounds like you are in family with him."

Nega began being red as his anger boiled and he clenched his fists, slamming one of them down at the panel, causing it to spark and break.

"Unfortunately, I am. However, we don't mention my dumb and foolish ancestor. He is the reason why I am failing so greatly in my time!" Nega said behind his teeth as Mephiles stood behind him with his arms crossed and looked over at the silver hedgehog robot, having an idea of what timeline he came from.

"You don't happen to know a Silver the Hedgehog in your time, do you?" He questioned rather mysteriously, having his own evil thoughts about what could be a great revenge and that hedgehog, although another hedgehog was on his first place on which people who wanted to get revenge on first.

At that question, Nega's eyebrows furrowed as he looked slowly behind to see the dark grey hedgehog smiling mischievously. He turned around, looking slightly confused at him.

"… Yes… I do. How do you know him, may I ask?"

Mephiles chuckled evilly again and reached for a newspaper from year 2208, where Silver is on the front page after he defeated one of Nega's other big failed attacks on world domination. He let a purple ball swirl in his hand before he shot it gently at the front page, burning it down to bare ashes.

"Let's just say we had a small… acquaintance with each other in the past."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading this and remember to comment. It really helps me a ton.<strong>

**Property to Astral-Blaze. Please, do not copy without permission.**

_Trivia Time!_

_Well, this chapter sure is a lot shorter than the previous one. But as I said, I had to split it up into two parts on DA. ^^;_

_Back to the story. I am sure people find this story a bit more exciting now than before. Mainly because Mephiles has appeared. I personally like Mephiles, a lot. He is creepy, he is evil, he is a master mind at manipulating others, he has every characteristic way of defining a perfect villain. He, along with Eggman Nega, will be the main villains. But we all know that Mephiles has a few, a lot, tricks in his sleeve. What it is? You have to find out in the next chapter! Stay tune!  
><em>

_Oh, and yes, of course. I forgot to mention. Rouge is single, has a crush on Shadow but he doesn't like her that way, she has a crush on Knuckles, and she of course is so desperate that she tries to kiss Silver. Very dramatic and fun at the same time! :D I do remember I really enjoy writing the interaction between them in Empire City's GUN HQ. _

_That's all. See you next time... in chapter 5 where we will have some awesome battles between old enemies. And a fun interaction between Metal Silver and another person will be there too, and so far, people has found that very funny and one of the most enjoying parts of that chapter. :D_

_I had something more to say but I forgot it. :/  
>Aww, well. It wasn't so important I guess. Anyways, s<em>_ee ya all!_

_Katerina Oestergaard_


	5. Fight between Archenemies

**Elemental Flames **

_Chapter 5 - Fight between Archenemies_

* * *

><p>The alarm went off, sounding like siren horns.<p>

"Huh? What's going on? Computer! Give me a report status immediately!" Nega shouted, demanding what happened.

The doctor just managed to make a deal with Mephiles that they would work together in order to get hold of the Flames of Disaster, which according to Nega, is trapped inside Blaze's soul. Of course, once Mephiles heard that Nega was not only archenemies with Silver but also with Blaze, Blaze the Cat who is Silver's friend, he began rubbing his chin, thinking that there was a… fun method for Mephiles to use if he had to make Blaze cry. But first of all, he needed to make sure that Blaze was the vessel to Iblis. Laughing inside his mind, Mephiles found Nega more naïve and stupid than that childish hedgehog, Silver.

_'Almost like stealing candy from a child. This might be easier than I thought. You better be on your guard, Blaze. If you really are the vessel then I know exactly what will make you cry. And this Nega. Oh, and can't thank him enough for giving me this information. Still, if I stay around long enough, I might get all the data and information I need to reunite with Iblis again. And then we shall tear time and space apart, destroying everything in this pitiful universe! Hahahahahahaha!'_

It didn't take too long before a female computer voice answered her master's call for support.

"It appears we have some uninvited guests. Apparently, a black hedgehog and a white bat managed to get through the security systems and pass the barrier. Both are working for the government as G.U.N. agents."

Nega growled in anger as he knew who these two persons were.

"So, Shadow and his partner Rouge are here to stop me, huh? And possibly stop me from what I have already done. Hehe. Oh, they are in for a big surprise on how late they actually are." He said solemnly, rubbing his grey long mustache as he walked around his data room as he glanced at the grey hedgehog shadow in front of him who smiled evilly as he heard Shadow's name. Just who he wanted to see.

_'So… Shadow is here. Oh, how I waited to see him again. This time I will make you suffer, Shadow. And don't think I will go easy on your partner, Rouge.' _He thought with his arms crossed as the computer showed the black and red hedgehog warping from place to place as he destroyed the robots in the base together with Rouge who kicked and punched through them all, placing and throwing her bombs around to disintegrate them.

Nega walked around the room to think of a plan to stop them, and finally he came across the solution to have his two best robots defeating them. However, Mephiles who didn't know what the doctor was thinking, chuckled darkly as he turned around at the insane scientist.

"If I may, doctor Nega, then it will be my pleasure to take care of our guests." He said very darkly, bringing his hand in front of him and let a dark purple orb swirl around in it while he looked in deep thoughts on how he should wreck Shadow apart.

Nega waved his hand at Mephiles as if telling that he had everything under control.

"No need for that, Mephiles." He said as he began rubbing his chin in evil thoughts, looking very insane with that crazy smile of his. Mephiles' dark smile vanished as he looked slightly curious at the man who had freed him, feeling some rare confusion hitting him. Seeing that Mephiles was interested in hearing more, Nega continued as he walked over to Metal Silver who had his eyes closed and leaned against the wall with crossed arms. "I have decided that my two best fighter robots will deal with them."

Still leaning against the wall, Metal Silver looked absolutely uninterested.

Nega began feeling ignored, which he definitely didn't like. He cleared his throat to get his attention. The robot sighed and opened its metal blue eyes, staring at his creator rather annoyed as he was just relaxing. He watched him approaching him as Nega had his hands behind his back.

"Metal Silver. I need you and Metal Sonic 3.0 to take care of our guests."

Rolling his computer teal-blue eyes, Metal Silver groaned in deep annoyance at his master's state. However, he still obeyed his wishes and reluctantly, he began moving towards a room where the black robot with yellow stripes where on stand-by mode, recharging energy from his last fight.

"Why do I have to take him with me?" Metal Silver groaned as he glanced at his master who just rubbed his grey old mustache, waiting for his greatest robot to move.

The robot sighed in defeat, finding no need for protesting since his lazy and, in his opinion some time, scaredy master wouldn't listen to him and began walking into the high-tech workshop where he saw the lazy and Sonic attitude robot just sitting there on the table, plugged in to a red electric recharger box. Not caring about the warning about being careful, Silver's metal counterpart pulled the plug out of the robot rather strongly, causing small sparks to appear as well as groans from the metallic hedgehog who was slowly waking up from his sleep.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty!" He shouted in slight aggression as he pushed the slowly awakening robotic Sonic look-a-like hedgehog down from the table, causing him to growl and groan in both slight pain and in irritation. The silvery robotic hedgehog glanced behind him, seeing his "useless" companion getting to his feet as he rubbed his head in pain. "It's time to get to work. Doctor Nega's orders."

"Darn it, Metal Silver. Don't you know that you should be careful when you plug out a robot? I will do the same thing with you once you are recharging." The slightly darker metallic voice said that came from the robot.

Metal Sonic 3.0 uses the same body model as Metal Sonic who he's copied after just with some changes. One is the colour and two is the strength on the two robots. While he looks almost the same as the original Metal Sonic, 3.0 is coloured black where Metal Sonic is coloured blue, and has black feet with a yellow stripe as opposed to Metal Sonic's red with white stripe. 3.0 also has a yellow outline around his eyes and three parallel vertical yellow stripes starting from his muzzle to the top of his spike. His strength is increased from his copy, making him slightly stronger and just as fast as his "brother."

Metal Silver chuckled in the insulting way, totally careless that he would do the same thing to him. Glancing behind him as he stood out on the lighted hallway, he crossed his arms and if he had a mouth, you would notice him smirking.

"Ha! Like I care! You are just jealous that I am better than you are." He said as he looked at his hand, glancing up and saw Metal Sonic 3.0 leaping onto him, punching him to the other end of the hall.

"Say that again, you fake robotic hedgehog! You're a copy of the real Silver the Hedgehog!" He insulted back, hovering over the floor by using the jet that made him move fast and placed on his back. He moved himself into a fighting position as he saw his irritating companion rose to his feet, glowing a teal colour as the metallic Silver laughed.

"We will see about that once I face him again. Then I will prove that I am the best and only Silver! Plus, you are copied twice." He said as he fired the lifted objects around him at full speed ahead at his opponent.

Dodging and smashing through them, 3.0 launched himself towards Metal Silver only to get caught by his Psychokinesis and be thrown to the other end of the hallway too, causing him to speed right pass his creator. As the white robot speeded and landed on his companion, they continued to fight with Mephiles standing in the shadow, observing both their behaviour and it could at some points remind him about some other hedgehog he wished to get rid of too.

Sighing and growling under his breath, Nega took out a remote from his pocket and pressed it hardly down.

A high metallic scream came from the two robots, which could be heard all over the base, also outside it where Shadow and Rouge were fighting and stopped for a second as they held to their ears at the painful screams. Mephiles covered his ears too as he slowly lost concentrating on keeping himself together in his form and pressed himself against a shadow filled wall, slowly turning into liquid as he became one with the other shadows.

Nega wasn't affected by these screams since he had something that looks like big metallic earmuffs only these were specially designed against any sounds. The reason the robots screamed was because Nega pushed on that red button on his remote, which send a shockwave through the two poor robots, causing them to feel nothing but absolute pain. Finally, it stopped as the insane doctor stopped pushing the button, tucked his remote down in his jacket pocket, walking towards the hot and almost burned robots as they steamed like hell, almost overloading their system from their high temperature. Looking with hatred up on their creator, the two fighters growled in anger yet they knew that they couldn't harm him because one, they didn't knew if he was a hologram or not and two; he could just push the button again and let them feel more pain.

Bringing his hands behind his back, Nega walked slowly towards the steaming robots, looking absolutely disappointed in them.

"Do I have to tell the story once again?" He said in a slight insulting way yet it was mostly his annoyance that took over him.

Shaking their heads and saying no, the two robots supported each other as they began walking towards the other end of the base where the exit was. As they reached the end of a dark hallway, not supporting each other anymore, Mephiles decided that this was his opportunity to make these robots think a bit more and make them a little angrier.

Arguing with each other, the two robots were at the point at fighting again. Seeing his opportunity was there, Mephiles slowly slipped in front of them in his liquid state, beginning to take his dark grey form of Shadow and stood up. Seeing him turning from liquid to "flesh and bones," Metal Sonic 3.0 widened his eyes as he and his silver companion beat each other in the faces, quickly stopping and took a step back in surprise. Metal Silver chuckled as he saw him almost freaking out because something unnatural formed into a hedgehog's shade in front of them.

"Coward." He mockingly said as he stared into 3.0's angry red eyes as he launched himself at Metal Silver who easily dodged his attack. "It's just Mephiles. The doctor released him earlier, and yes, he looks a lot like Shadow."

Staring into the cold green eyes, 3.0 find this Mephiles character rather boring-looking yet there was some mysteriously over him. Something very evil that made 3.0's metallic spine shiver at the slight feeling of rare fear. Hearing Mephiles' cold and dark laugh, surely did creep him out. What freaked him out even more was the shadow's dark and cold voice and having an evil smile upon his lips.

"You two are just as bad at working together as two other hedgehogs I know. Ha! I doubt that you will succeed that simple task the doctor asked you to do."

"What?" The two robotic voices said as they stared in disbelief at the grey and dull coloured Mephiles. He chuckled as he saw them getting slightly pissed off.

"Seeing that you fight so easily against each other, there is no way that you will be able to defeat Shadow and his partner. Not even weaken them one bit." Mephiles continued as he leaned against the wall with his eyes closed and smirk on his face as he had crossed arm and let an evil chuckle escape him, his manipulation starting do its work.

"Why you… You'll regret you said that!" Metal Sonic 3.0 shouted as he launched at the dark shadow. Mephiles reopened his green eyes as he became one with the shadows around him, turning into his liquid state again as he hid himself in the darkness, laughing manically. "What the? Show yourself, coward!"

Continuing laughing Mephiles slipped behind the robot, wrapped his liquid around its leg as he took its arms and pinned them behind his back, causing 3.0 to fall forward, releasing a loud metal clinging sound that echoed through the hallway. Standing in front of him was Mephiles, half shadow-formed and half liquid formed, making him look incredible scary with that smile as he laughed at the robot's poor attempt to hit him.

"I'm a shadow. You can't hit me. Every single one of your moves is just like a bug to me. Irritating and just trying to get me slightly distracted. As a matter of fact, that little copycat trick of yours won't work either." He said as he lifted the metallic black Sonic up, holding him around his throat. If he was from flesh and bones, 3.0 would have struggled to get air by now. Instead, he growled at the dark one, looking with rather hatred in his eyes. "That's right. Let your anger take control of you. It may make your blows even more powerful… weakling."

Hearing his last sentence, 3.0 steamed with rage as he managed to give Mephiles an almost deadly blow that would hurt any mortals greatly if they survived. 3.0 looked amused at his hands as did Metal Silver and he stared at his dark grey hands, never knowing that he could be so powerful.

Slight groaning Mephiles came into view with a proud evil smile as he walked towards the two robots that stood in fighting possessions.

"Let's take him out together!" Metal Silver said in determinations, letting his hands glow. Slamming his metallic knuckles together, Metal Sonic 3.0 gave some smirking eyes, agreeing with his companion for once.

Charging towards the dark shadow, the robots didn't know why they were thrown backwards. Leaping of the wall, Metal Silver send countless of Psychic attacks, which Mephiles managed to dodged easily before firing a purple orb at the speeding black and yellow hedgehog who tried to surprise him. Unfortunately, it sent him straight to the ceiling, causing a lot of dust to appear and metal to get loose, falling down on top of the black robot. By using his Psychokinesis, Metal Silver lifted the metal pieces and threw them at full speed at Mephiles only that he saw even more Mephiles' as the dark shadow had cloned himself, making dozens of just as powerful dark slaves.

Growling in anger, Metal Silver began glowing an extreme teal colour as he was about to unleash his full power. However, these Mephiles clones kept getting in his way, making it impossible for him to take them out all at once. Metal Sonic 3.0 had difficulties too, though his main problem was that the clones kept firing purple light balls at him, causing him several times to stumble over his feet and just manage to dodge the dark ones attacks. They both kept fighting though and with the installation of a stamina back-up pack, which allows both of them to fight for a longer time without getting "exhausted" in the fight.

No matter how many of the cloned Mephiles' they destroyed, more kept reappearing as the two metallic hedgehogs stood back to back, and watching how their foe continued to clone himself. He laughed evilly; the sound feeling like it came from everywhere.

"Such foolishness. It doesn't matter how many of them you defeat, you know. They are just as I. A shadow you can't touch."

The voice didn't seem to come from any direction. The two robots looked around them, feeling that their opponent was right beside them yet so far away. They both growled in anger and ignored Mephiles' comment, continuing to fight through his minors, that whenever was hit, they turned into small black liquid and disappeared into the shadows.

"Coward! What's the matter? Too scared to fight against us?" Metal Sonic 3.0 said in anger and irritation as he speeded around like a tornado, wiping the most of Mephiles clones out of the way that surrounded him. Mephiles chuckled, enjoying the sight of them fighting his minors and at the black and yellow robot's comment. Under his command, he made the minors disappear, leaving the original Mephiles standing seven meters away from the two companions as he smiled ever so creepy at them and brought his arms around his body as he slowly closed his eyes.

"So brave, yet so dumb. Very well then. Let's see what you can do to entertain me." He said coldly as he started to glow for a second and he became all crystallized as his mouth remained with an evil smile yet his nose disappeared.

Seeing him transforming made the strong robots shiver in slight fright but kept it hidden and stood in fighting position. Seconds of staring at each other, Mephiles waited patiently for them to strike as he hovered over the floor with his gone crystal feet. And as foreseen, Nega's two machines couldn't stand the tenderness and charged at the dark god, punching and using their powers at him to almost no avail. Mephiles either dodged the attacks or took the blows as an irritation on his stone black and purple skin.

This fight didn't last for too long. Mainly Mephiles disappeared from one place to another and kept reappearing to strike his opponents from behind when they least expected it. It only made them angrier as they charged their energy and fired it at the dark foe. Metal Silver kept using his Psychokinesis while Metal Sonic 3.0 kept using his speed and strength. However, Mephiles only laughed at their poor attempts on damaging him as he fired his purple orbs at him. The two robots finally had enough and looked at each other and nodded. Then they charged up their powers together, combining them and fired at the crazy shadow, sending him to his knees as he let some fake pants escape him. Both robots went over to him in victory as they would deliver the final blow on him. But as his plan seemed to work, Mephiles shot his eyes wide open, brought his arms over his chest and fired a powerful and large dark purple orb towards them, causing them to collide with the wall. Immediately, Mephiles brought the black liquid around them, pinning them against the wall as he lifted himself up their level.

Struggling and groaning to get free, Metal Silver and Sonic fought an impossible challenge they couldn't win. They looked up as they heard the black shadow laugh.

"You are not that different from your copies after all. You act as naïve and determinate and fight as Silver while you can't take your speed away like Sonic. But I must admit that Doctor Nega didn't do a bad job on creating you. I could see so much more potential in you. Why don't you join me in teaching this world a lesson and rewrite the future?"

Hearing this confession made the robots turn slightly away from him as he tried to manipulate them over on his side.

"No way!" Metal Silver shouted in his metalic voice as he tried using his powers on the liquid that grabbed hold of him and his companion around their bodies, but with no luck in getting free at all.

"Whatever you wanna do is your business. We don't want to be a part of your plan." Metal Sonic 3.0 continued as he stared with so much hatred and disgust in his computer red eyes into the creepy light green ones Mephiles wore.

"So you respect your creator's way of treating you? Haha. He has only created you to his advantage. He just wants to use you instead of doing the job himself." Mephiles invented as he hovered between them with that manipulating glim in his eyes, showing that he tried to deceive them to his own use.

They looked down with deep in thoughts. What he said was true. Partly. Their master did use them but he did give them what they needed. Although he is an idiot and not trustworthy, they would still rather work together with him than this creature he has released.

"No. But he is more trustworthy than you are! We would rather get his dirty work done than yours!" Metal Silver said as he continued to struggle against Mephiles' liquid. So did Metal Sonic and agreed with his partner that working for him is much better than working for a person you know is simply just a shadow.

Chuckling darkly with eyes slightly closed, Mephiles went down to the ground and transformed back into his Shadow-look-a-like form and released the two robots, causing them to fall down to the ground. Metal Silver on his head and 3.0 on his butt. Rubbing both places, the two slowly stood and watched Mephiles walking straight into the shadows, almost being one with them.

"Have it your way. But I will be waiting for you if you should suddenly change your minds. Oh, and one more thing." He said darkly and turned his head slightly back to see the two robots leaning slightly against the wall for support while slightly smiling. "I will be waiting for Shadow."

Then Mephiles continued to walk down the dark hallway.

"Hey! Come back here! I'm not done yet!" Metal Silver shouted slightly naïve with his metallic voice and began walking with fast steps towards the dark one, only to be stopped by 3.0 who took around his arm and pulled him back while shaking his head in disagreement. Metal Silver mime why he held him, but Metal Sonic 3.0 only shook his head as if telling that they couldn't defeat him in this slightly damaged state.

Once Mephiles had become one with the shadows and slipped away in his liquid form, 3.0 finally let go of his partner.

"We can't defeat him now. Besides, the doctor will be angry if we fail to at least trying to stop Shadow and his partner from breaking in."

Sighing in annoyance, Metal Silver could only nod his head as he speeded after Metal Sonic who used his jet to move at high speed, leaving a teal glow behind him as he followed the ebony and yellow striped robotic hedgehog.

...

Screw kicking through the last big red and black robot, it disintegrated, causing the lock to the main entrance to open slowly up for the two agents. Humming for himself, Shadow felt that the air was full of danger. Something wasn't right about this. Nega might have had his security very high out here, but something plagued Shadow's mind as if the future doctor awaited them inside his base. Waiting for them to figure out what he had done.

Sighing out with his arms crossed, Shadow began walking into the base with Rouge right beside him. He let his arms down by his side and stared in every corner of the base as they walked through the hallway. It seemed that Shadow and his partner was walking straight into a trap and he kept his guard high for the safest.

"Shadow? Are you okay?"

The ebony agent turned his attention towards the white bat who wore her same black vest with collar and buttons and black pants that went down in her white usual boots. He sighed as he kept his attention straightforward down the corridor as they turned a few times along the way.

"It's just… something doesn't seems to be right. Whatever Nega is doing, we have to make sure that Mephiles doesn't escape his prison from the scepter." He said emotionless yet there was some death seriousness in his voice as he kept his focus on the hallway that seemed never ending.

Breaking into Eggman Nega's base was never an easy mission despite the primitive designs of his basic robots. The grating sound of metallic grinding that tortured Rouge and saw her clawing and clutching at her over- sensitive ears was the first sign of the coming assault. The black and yellow blur that ploughed into Shadow was the second. Despite his legendary skills, the government agent was unprepared for the strike and the momentum of his opponent sent both crashing against the wall. Unable to maintain his usual level of composure, Shadow gave a grunt of pain before allowing his instincts to guide him. Reflexes took over and the Ultimate Lifeform delivered a powerful kick which caused his robotic opponent to overbalance; allowing him to twist free of its vice-like grip. The machine lowered itself into a runner's stance, ready to strike. Shadow mirrored his opponent.

"Seems Nega sent us a welcome party." Rouge smirked playfully and let her hands rest on her hips as she regarded the crouched form of Metal Sonic before her. "We'll have to break this toy."

A cruel gleam was reflected in her partner's gaze and he cracked his knuckles while giving a slight smirk.

"Leave this to me."

With no further warning Shadow threw himself at Metal Sonic 3.0 and landed a swift punch to the machine's head that carried enough force to dent the surface. The metallic hedgehog pulled back his claws for a counter blow which forced the agent to raise his arms as a block. Rouge was watching the combat with a cold, analytical gaze when she was encircled by a teal glow that forced her feet from the ground. As she was launched at the steel wall, the bat risked extending her wings, exposing them to rushing air, and attempted to slow her momentum. As a result of her actions, the treasure huntress hit the wall with a light thud rather than the bone crushing impact she should have made. For a moment the bat allowed a look of relief to flash into her teal eyes; if not for her earlier alliance with Silver she might not have realised the danger of the psychic attack. Speaking of which, the being at the other end of the hall possessed a far too familiar physique, the unmistakable five pointed quills were clearly outlined.

"Silver?" Shadow's question came out as a grunt as he leapt deftly onto his hands to deliver a kick to the body of Metal Sonic.

"Not exactly." Cold blue optics regarded the pair, "I'm far more powerful than that fake hedgehog; a fact no one will be able to dispute when he falls at my feet in battle." In contrast to his black and yellow counterpart, Metal Silver was leaning casually against the wall and gave the duo of struggling hedgehogs a bored look. "You aren't Silver but I suppose you'll make for a good warm up."

Almost effortlessly the silver metallic being prised Shadow from Metal Sonic.

For a moment he allowed the government agent to remain suspended in the air as a form of mockery whilst he addressed his ally.

"I'll be taking this one… you can take care of the bat."

Narrowing his optics, Metal Sonic seemed to desire to challenge the other robot but at the last moment thought better of the action. The clawed hands that enclosed upon Rouge's arms as she attempted to take to the sky bit hard into her flesh, bruises appearing instantly at the force of the touch, and the cold surface of the gleaming metal was pressed against her back to immobilize her. Her feet were left unrestrained, a clear sign of disrespect from Eggman Nega, and the treasure hunter began to employ her greatest weapon against an unfeeling metal shell.

In contrast to his thrashing partner, Shadow had regained his freedom when Metal Silver had attempted to crush him into the wall. Using the momentum of the confident machine's attack, Shadow planted his feet on the wall and twisted his body into a spin- dash which was only made more dangerous by the acting gravity. Shadow then deployed his speed to run rings around his opponent hoping to bait the robot to act in anger and falter. Every time the psychic caught the Ultimate Lifeform the process would repeat with Metal Silver's throws becoming more erratic and faster. The dents Shadow made in the bases walls did little to slow his pace and, as the robot became more desperate, the Ultimate Lifeform varied his routine with a series of fast paced kicks and punches that forced his foe to twist and shift, never able to fully relax his powers. The robot resorted to more complex attacks that forced the Ultimate Lifeform to maintain his distance but Metal Silver's waves of psychic energy were countered by jets of Chaos spears that left singe marks of the shiny metallic surface.

As the battle between Shadow and Metal Silver continued, Rouge struggled wildly in her captor's chain-like hold. The close proximity of the pair meant that kicks she rained down of his legs were weak and the metallic solider showed no signs of any damage. A glance at the steely optics, however, revealed that Metal Sonic 3.0 had no interest in his prisoner at all; instead the normally emotionless machine seemed almost pleased as he watched the burns and indentations appeared on Silver's metal counterpart. This distraction enraged the bat and strengthened her resolve. Drawing on her fury at her helplessness, Rouge showered the kicks faster and strained forward to escape her steel prison. Despite her lack of upper body strength the spy resorted to punching at the machine's arm until she managed to free a single wing from where it was pinned behind her body. Eyes gleaming Rouge brought the wing down hard on her captor's head and used the moment of surprise to deliver a kick to the robot's midsection that allowed her to squirm free of his hold although she doubted she had managed to cause any real damage. Instantly a Chaos Spear struck Metal Sonic and sent him crumpling against the wall. It seemed Shadow had noticed her plight after all. Rouge smirked as she flew above Metal Silver and watched her partner's wild movements.

Shadow felt a moment of dread when he noticed the scanning light of Metal Silver's cold optics, was it his spin dash that was being observed or perhaps a more dangerous chaos based ability? Regardless Metal Silver had to be stopped. Clearly weary of the battle, Shadow launched a kick at his own opponent's feet that toppled the machine in a shower of sparks; where the jets from Shadow's hover shoes met Metal Silver's body the metal began to bend. When Metal Silver tried to return to his feet, the glow of a charging Chaos Spear assaulted his optics.

"It's over." Shadow's deep growl was filled with warning.

A loud crash echoed as Metal Sonic prided himself out of the steelwork and collapsed, the formally pristine shell of the robot now leaked oil and caved in in places. Metal Silver looked even worse. The dark stains and searing a stark contrast to the gleaming silver metal bodywork. Both robots froze momentarily, their eyes dimmed as if their attention was elsewhere, and the agents allowed themselves to relax briefly. Both sets of optics narrowed at the invisible voice but neither machine moved.

Finally Metal Sonic regained his footing and his focus. "You haven't won yet."

Rouge moved closer to Shadow in a show of solidarity as the two Metals righted themselves. Metal Silver's eyes held a challenge but no attacks were forthcoming and, after a moment, both robots disappeared further into the base. Caution over-ruled the agents desire to eliminate the threat of the two robots and they watched the smoking outlines disappear into the shadows.

Shadow frowned. "That was too easy."

Nodding, Rouge regarded her partner. "Stay alert, Shadow."

The hedgehog gave a curt nod as they followed their foes into the darkness, not knowing what awaited them at the end.

...

_Click, click._

The sound of Rouge's heels created a steady rhythm through the empty, echoing halls. The outlines of the shattered remains of robots littered their path could be seen in the sickly yellow light that flittered in from the top of the high walls but the Ultimate Lifeform didn't spare Nega's ruined weaponry a glance. The G.U.N agents were unusually close together, both crimson and teal eyes scanned the narrow passageway for any traces of movement. It felt like eyes were spying on them from every corner of the hallway.

The unease that had haunted both agents since Silver informed them that Nega possessed The Scepter of Darkness seemed to have doubled since they had entered the lair; that there was no sign of the mad doctor or the intelligent fragment of Solaris was more a cause for concern than relief although even Nega wouldn't have been desperate enough to unleash that monster upon the world. Rouge's large ears strained for a trace of sound before looking beside her, her attention being on the ebony agent.

"I don't like this, Shadow. What if Nega already managed to release him?"

The hedgehog didn't answer; instead he hummed in thoughts, hoping that his companion was wrong.

Continuing to move forward, both hedgehog and bat felt slightly paranoid by the surroundings. Only robot parts and other machinery lied in their way. Suddenly, Shadow stopped up, his hand blocked Rouge's path and the hedgehog growled. Confused about his action, Rouge looked at him then around her as she heard the dreadful dark voice that caused him to growl as he felt the presence of the shadow.

"I see you have returned to interfere with my plans, Shadow." The echoing voice seemed to come from everywhere and struck the very core of the hardened government agents.

Unbidden, a shiver crept down Rouge's spine.

"Mephiles." She said slightly frighten yet she kept her posture.

Frantically Shadow's eyes darted round the room, a strange mixture of fury, disbelief and something that could have been dread filling them.

"Show yourself, coward!"

In the darkest corner of the base, the shadows shifted to reveal the hedgehog's inverted double. He was laughing as he rose from the surrounding darkness and laughed harder as Shadow's chaos attack passed harmlessly through his unformed body to leave a blistering scorch mark on the steel wall. There was something horrifying at seeing the distorted copy of Shadow. A being with so much power, being used as Mephiles' chosen form, a strange mixture of horror at strike such familiar features and the intense fear of what the dark doppelganger could do with the power of the Ultimate Lifeform. The two experiments, two victims of human greed and selfishness who were made with such good intentions, the ability to grant life to those who had lost theirs, had turned out so differently. The avenger and the demon locked in a timeless struggle for the fate of the world.

Green, slit pupil eyes narrowed.

"You have no idea how long I have dreamed of defeating you, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Without wasting a second, two Chaos Spears descended on the bragging form of the shade, forcing him to draw back into his true form to avoid the powerful explosions. The shapeless mass of shadows disappeared amongst the rest of the shadows that crowded Nega's dimly lit hall which featured many hidden alcoves where no light was present at all. It was clear that Mephiles had prepared himself for this fight and altered Nega's own designs to his advantage.

"You will have to keep dreaming, Mephiles." Shadow said while smirking.

"Really?" The Dark purred as he materialized behind the hedgehog a delivered a swift punch that stunned his rival momentarily. "You underestimate the power of Solaris."

By this point, Mephiles had closed in on Shadow's throat. Teal eyes widened as Rouge realized that the close proximity of the pair would render Shadow's chaos attacks unusable unless he wanted to risk taking himself out as well.

As she watched her partner's frantic clawing at the dark being, she knew she was needed to help. Steeling her nerves, Rouge took the skies; she had to hope that Mephiles found her as insignificant as he did three years ago or she would be of little help to Shadow. Once she had put enough distance between herself and the struggling pair, Rouge dived. Had Mephiles being pay attention, or thought the female worthy of his time, then he would have avoided the blow that landed across his cheek.

The powerful kick, that had caved in doors and shattered the metallic hull of robots, did little damage to the Demi-god, it appeared to simply annoy him as he absently shock his head a swatted as one would do when pestered by a fly, but those eerie green eyes turned in Rouge's direction. The moment of distraction was all that Shadow needed and he struck out with a powerful punch that sent the Dark staggering back a step, a feral hiss escaping the gleaming jaws. That wasn't enough for Shadow and he followed up with a kick, his jet shoes emitting wild sparks of chaos charged flames that could both burn and blind. Even before Mephiles hit the wall, Shadow had charged his Chaos Spears and sent them sailing towards his foe for an easy hit that doubled the demon over with pain.

Rouge watched this display of power with a sense of awe but at the sight of the grey stripped hedgehog struggling to his feet, she swiftly flew to Shadow's side.

Mephiles regarded the pair with a demonic fever in his eyes, the edges of his colourless muzzle twitched and the agents would have sworn he was smiling but the sharp teeth turned it into a fearsome sight.

"If that is how you want to fight..."

Instantly, the room filled with carbon copies of Mephiles. In a well-practised manoeuvre, Rouge grabbed onto Shadow and leapt into the air; her feet tucked against her lithe frame ready to deliver a powerful kick should any of the reflections attempt to waylay their ascent.

From this aerial vantage point, Shadow continued to launch Chaos Spears but the number of copies seemed unchanged; the sea of grey bodies stretching from wall to wall and preventing the agents reaching their true target. From seemingly empty spots, blast of dark energy pierced the dimly lit area and forced Rouge into a sicken spiral to weave and avoid the blasts. At each attack, Shadow sent a wave of Chaos Spears hurtling into the darkness but the blasts always met empty air. However, it seemed Mephiles was inexhaustible as yet another storm of dark blasts sailed towards the agents. To Rouge's horror Shadow suddenly swung free of her hold and, using his super speed, raced in zig-zags across the vertical surface of Nega's walls, dodging blasts as he went and wall jumping to drive the energy blasts back into the shadows. The sheer amount of energy this stunt was using was clear to the bad as she watched the metal distort and twist, forming menacing claw-like ledges and bulges, where the Chaos flames seared the surface. It was only years of training that enabled Rouge to catch her partner when he leapt towards her and the force of his weight greatly affected her altitude. It appeared that this was the opportunity the shadows had been waiting for as each charged up their own energy attacks. As the sky filled with the purple beams, Shadow wrapped his arms around the treasure huntress' neck and used his body to block most of the blows that would have been fatal for his mortal partner. The smell of burning fur assaulted the agents' senses, in their haze of weariness neither knew if it was their own and even Rouge couldn't bring herself to care. Exhausted, the bat's height dropped and it was all she could do to avoid dropping her ally upon landing. Loud ringing of heels on steel that she caused uncharacteristic of the spy and it was clear that the fight would soon be between Shadow and Mephiles.

Dozens of pairs of serpentine eyes regarded Rouge as she whispered to her companion, "Shadow we don't have time for his games!"

The ruby eyes were cold but flickers of hatred appeared as Shadow regarded his rival's pale reflections.

"Of course."

Whilst Rouge usually considered herself hard to read, she knew that the anticipation she felt would show in her eyes. Normally this would alarm the treasure hunter but she had a feeling she knew her partner's next move. Mephiles wouldn't know what hit him; instead he would suspect the removal of Shadow's Inhibitor Rings and the advantage that it would bring if he survived the initial attack by allowing him to fight the drained G.U.N agent.

With an icy smirk and movements too quick for the average eye, Shadow pulled out his Chaos Emerald, the bright sheen of the cyan gem seemed to colour the grey-scale army. For a moment the clones stood frozen as Rouge herself gained altitude to escape the coming devastation.

"Chaos Blast!"

The haunting battle cry echoed in the metallic halls as a dome of red energy radiated out from the Ultimate Lifeform. The copies were swept up by the tidal wave of power, some disintegrated on contact, and others were carried by the blast until they hit the wall and melted into shadows. Only one remained standing and Rouge allowed herself to fall, the gravity increasing her speed as she lashed out a foot to catch and stun her enemy.

Again, Shadow used her distraction to launch a chaos based attack, now a volley of Chaos Spears as the emerald increased his power. Mephiles staggered under the blows and the repeated flow of energy prevented him returning to a shadow or even advancing to his crystalline state. Under the river of light, the Demi-god was driven back to the wall where he stumbled and collapsed. As a last futile attempt at resistance, a grey stripped arm was raised as a feeble barrier. Still, Shadow fired until his own form began to suffer and he drew long desperate, ragged breaths, the white fur on his chest was slick and clung to his dark frame.

For a moment neither agent moved; the repeated attacks had caused a build-up of smoke and both feared the demonic hedgehog would use this to his advantage. Whilst both were usually comfortable working alone, Rouge was relieved to feel her partner's sharp quills at her back, the sharp bite of their points helping to keep her in the realm of the conscious. Finally, the smoke cleared and both hedgehog and bat strained to make out the beaten form of their opponent. The wall where Mephiles had struck was straining from the force, a cavernous hole marking the point of impact.

With a confident smirk Shadow advanced on the fallen god.

"I already know what your tricks are Mephiles."

Weakly, a green, serpentine orb cracked open.

"You have grown strong Shadow," Each word was punctuated by a gasping rasp and the panting tongue seemed to demystify their opponent, "but so have I."

Before either agent could respond Mephiles had sank into the floor.

For a few seconds they stood in silence.

"Do you think he fled?" Rouge felt her own scepticism in her voice even as she spoke.

"Mephiles is a coward." The dark growl of Shadow was a surprise. "He rarely fought his own battles or fought fair but his revenge matters too much for him to risk us falling under the hands of Eggman Nega."

Rouge opened her mouth to reply but the sharp pain of a physical blow silenced her. She gave a gasping scream as her small frame sailed into the wall. Unlike Shadow and Mephiles, it would not be an injury from which she swiftly recovered. Pain made the bat's vision blurry but she could still make out the strong form of Shadow whip round to face her... And the hand that slowly, liberally, stretched out of the pool of darkness cast by the hedgehog's frame.

"It seems the Ultimate Lifeform has weaknesses after all." Mephiles gave a twisted laugh as he pinned Shadow's arms to his side. "I often wonder how one such as you could imprison me"

The government's training kicked in as Shadow drove an elbow into the soft flesh of god, corporeal because of a strange fascination to hurt Shadow by wearing his face. In response, Mephiles disappeared only to re-emerge and attempt to deliver a kick which Shadow rolled to avoid. Counting on the continued motion of Mephiles' body, Shadow responded with a roundhouse kick to the back of his copy's head which unbalanced the Dark. Blazing with power a Chaos Spear charged towards the Demi-god, only to be destroyed as it collided with a blast of purple light that was fired by the faux hedgehog. Undeterred, Shadow increased the rate he fired the blasts but each met the same fate; obliterated upon contact with Mephiles' shadowy energy in a blinding flash that seemed to stun all three of the room's occupants. Shadow's eyes narrowed and the black blur tore round the chamber in a bid to outmanoeuvre his foe and land a blast on the soft, unprepared fur. The voile of Chaos Spears he released, however, still seemed to aim in a random direction. The constant expenditure of energy soon ensured that the golden restraints crashed to the floor as Shadow leapt over an emerald charged lance fired by the god; the attack had devastating potential and one hit could prove fatal even to the Ultimate Lifeform.

Eventually, Shadow found himself flagging, disadvantaged by the seemingly easy dispatch of the earlier robots, and a bolt of Mephiles' energy, aimed at his feet sent him crashing down to the cold steel floor with a sickening crash which echoed in the hallway. As Shadow struggled to rise, a gleam of light burned his ruby orbs; the familiar energy his own beaten form now lacked caused a sinking dread in the Ultimate Lifeform. Before the kneeling hedgehog stood Mephiles, Chaos Emerald in hand, turning it as if fascinated, as if all the secrets of the world were contained in the one jewel; green eyes filled with lust and longing and hunger. It was Shadow's emerald. Still the hedgehog battled to return to his feet and renew the fight but his strength failed him, his trembling form falling to the ground at every new attempt he made.

"In a way, Shadow, I do admire your attempts to stop me." With certain, calculated callousness, Mephiles approached his enemy. "Of course, we reach a point when it ceases to be amusing..." For a moment Mephiles' paused as he watched Rouge struggle to her elbows, her form bruised and cut. "I'm sure I'd have liked to watch you struggle on, Shadow, but I'm afraid I have plans and you don't feature in any of them."

He chuckled darkly as he saw the hedgehog and bat struggling to their feet only to collapse to their knees and hold themselves up with their elbows. Shadow glared upwards at the dark one, gritting his teeth as he felt defeated.

"Don't think that this is over, Mephiles. Next time, you won't be that lucky." He growled as he tried to push himself up but the pain was too much for the Ultimate Lifeform and he fell beside Rouge who groaned as she tried her best to sit up. Both looked in disgust and hatred at the unnatural shadow smiling as he found Shadow's threat rather idle.

"Oh, is that so? Well, I am afraid I don't have time sticking around and see it. In fact, I am on my way to figure if this vessel to Iblis Doctor Nega is talking about really is the one. So I guess this is farewell, Shadow the Hedgehog. Prepare for your one-way ticket to oblivion!"

As he said this, a dark purple orb swirled around in his hand before it grew bigger as he lifted it above his head, throwing it towards the pair. Both pair of crimson and teal eyes widened and Rouge gasped as Shadow covered her as if it would hurt them. Mainly he did it so that they would stick together wherever Mephiles sent them to. In a blink of an eye, they were gone. Still, the orb remained where it was on the floor.

Laughing evilly, Mephiles tucked the cyan emerald behind his quills, making sure it wouldn't fall when he travelled through time.

"Now to find her." He said coldly darkly as he walked towards his ball of light, entered it and landed it in an old ruined castle garden, close to a waterfall. "Ah. Kingdom Valley. Let's see if Blaze is around here."

Even though the noise of running water almost drowned the surrounding noises, Mephiles still managed to hear a cry of frustration being released on the other side of where he was. Smirking, he turned into liquid, moved his way behind the running waterfall and emerged from the shadow filled stoned wall, hearing crying from the girl. Just looking through the water, Mephiles saw the unmistakeable lavender feline cat crying from her pain as she wished things would have been different.

_'That was easier than I thought. However, if she is the vessel, how is she able to cry? The seal should have been broken if she cried.'_

At that question, he got his answer from the upset girl as she leaned against the tree near this waterfall Mephiles hid behind, trying her best to dry off her eyes.

"I don't care that I will cry sorrowful tears and release Iblis inside me!"

Sorrowful tears. Mephiles realized that because of Blaze's ability to control fire, the seal was much stronger in her than Princess Elise and therefor it craved much stronger feelings to release the Flames of Disaster from inside her. Thinking that it was maybe a bit more difficult than last time, Mephiles still needed to find her weak point. And find it he did.

Seeing her taking a silver rectangular emerald out of her pocket, Mephiles pulled his own cyan Chaos Emerald out from his quills, feeling the strong power from both the miracle gem and the other one that felt like it surrounded the nearby area with hope. His curiosity grew at this strange gem, wanting to know more about it. What really brought a dreadful smile to Mephiles' colourless muzzles was the illusionary silvery hedgehog that approached the slightly crying princess, smiling at her as he wiped the remaining tears away. In her eye, Mephiles saw some rare feelings from Blaze. One of them was some hidden love for the hedgehog in front of her which made the demi-god chuckle under his breath as he saw the Silver disappear and Blaze raise to her feet, walking towards Soleanna with all her baggage.

Laughing under his breath, Mephiles finally knew who his main target was.

"Well, well. Who knew the pyrokinetic princess would fall in love for a psychokinetic commoner? Hahaha! Well, I certainty didn't. But now that I have both my main and sub target for plan A and B, it's time to return."

Letting an orb appear in front of him again, he walked through with good news to the doctor. On the other side, he found Doctor Eggman Nega working as he grumped under his breath, having his screwdriver and other tools inside the silver metal robot that winched every time his master hit a "sore" spot inside it. But Nega didn't cared. He needed his robots whether he liked it or not and therefor he had to repair them.

"Ow! Easy!" He hissed as Nega managed to get a coupling sat the right place as the oil filled robot continued to winch at the unbearable feeling of needles inside its metallic body. Metal Sonic 3.0 had been shut down because of his more "low-tech" programming. Also, because of Metal Silver's earlier rough unplugging him, the system inside him had short-circuited when they returned to their master in that horrible state. Plus, his copycat system was accidently deactivated by Nega when he installed a stamina pack to his robots so that they could fight for a longer time.

Chuckling at the robot's pain, Mephiles brought both attentions towards him, looking at him and his evil proud smile in confusions. As soon as Metal Silver saw him, however, he growled lowly under his metallic breath in hatred. If it wasn't for Mephiles, than he for sure could have taken out Rouge and Shadow himself.

"Ah, Mephiles. Sorry for the mess. These robots here are useless as always." Nega said as he returned to repair his so called "greatest" fighter robot ever created.

"Ow! Hey, if he hadn't fought against us in the first place and if you and your stupidity wouldn't have turned off 3.0's copycat ability, we would have managed defeating them!" The robot scolded as he gave a deathly glare at the shadow that stood there, with chaos emerald in hand down by his side which Nega hasn't discovered yet.

"Nonsense. I admit the fault with the copycat thing is my mistake but Mephiles wouldn't try and stop you from doing your job. I should have known you weren't the right ones to handle Shadow and Rouge."

"Don't worry about the GUN agents, Doctor Nega. I have personally taken care of them. And I got this." He said with his dark voice, holding the Chaos Emerald up for Nega to see it.

"A Chaos Emerald! Hehehe! Splendid, Mephiles. Maybe you are more worthy in a fight than these." Nega said and pointed behind where Silver's metal counterpart crossed his arms, looking absolutely irritated as his teal optics showed nothing but hatred at the dark shadow.

"Oh, that's not all, doctor." He said while walking around with his arms hanging down towards a picture where Blaze was a lit with flames, fighting against some of Nega's mechs, letting an outburst of her power out while a roar came out as well. This was the first sign Nega had on her unbelievable strong and mysterious power from the Flames of Disaster. Turning his head back at the listening doctor and robot, Mephiles continued. "I have found some weaknesses… on Blaze."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading this and remember to comment. It really helps me a ton.<strong>

**Property to Astral-Blaze. Please, do not copy without permission.**

_Trivia Time!_

_Its's been more more than a day since I submitted the last chapter. Thought I would submit the next one today since yeah, I figured it was only two NEW stories that was allowed to be posted a day for new writers. Not posting a new chapter for a story. _

_Uh-oh. Mephiles has send Shadow and Rouge to... a place somewhere in this universe. What's that? Where it is, you may ask? Well, you have to wait and see for the later chapters because my mouth is shut. _

_I did had fun writing this one. But I really couldn't have made this chapter without the help from Shadowtigs, aka. shadowstartigs on DA. She did the two last battle scene where Shadow and Rouge are involved in. I did the two first ones where the robots are fighting each other and the other being where Mephiles is fighting against them. I suck at battle scenes, so yeah. _

_'Till next time, guys!_

_Katerina Oestergaard_


	6. The Festival of the Sun

**Elemental Flames **

_Chapter 6 - The Festival of the Sun_

* * *

><p>Sitting for herself in the park, she had put her earphones on, listening to this one song over and over. It was meant to cheer her up. And cheering her up it did. Once Sonic figured how to start the music, a small screen came up from that future-looking bracelet and lyrics showed on it so that you could sing with it. Yeah, it sounded very weird, but that's what happened in the chao garden the day before when the feline princess ran away.<p>

The song was very good, although the singer was very different from Blaze. From what she read, his name was Bentley. Though, what made her listen to the song over and over again was not because of who sang it, but by who have written it.

Yesterday, when her, Sonic, Tikal, Amy, Elise, Charmy and Marine, had listened to it, the credits of who had written the song, sang it, put the soundtrack and so on, came up. And the lyric writer was a surprise for all of them.

The one who wrote it, was none other than that man Blaze longed to see again. Of course, at first everybody thought that it could have been any other Silver, but Sonic did tell that he "borrowed" that iPod bracelet of some kind from Silver last time he saw him, which was around three months ago or something like that. In reality Silver just dropped it and Sonic was too curious to give it back.

After the mobians, chao, and the human, had heard the song while beung inside the Chao Garden, something very unexpected came from the bracelet. A video, to be more precise, popped up that showed how the song was first sung by… by Silver.

**_.:Flashback:._**

_"No, I am not gonna do it!" Silver said loudly in frustration, crossing his arms and turned away. The professional __human __song artist stood behind the hero, chuckling under his breath and went beside the white male. _

_"Aww, come on, Silver. It's a tradition that the one who writes the song gets to sing it first." Bentley said as he tried to convince a friend not to be such a scared cat. _

_Silver closed his eyes as he sat on the chair outside the audio room, looking very annoyed about this tradition. __"I don't care. I won't sing."_

_"Guess someone is a scaredy cat." A red echidna said, looking very much like Knuckles with white lines as a tiger along his hanging spikes._

_Silver opened his eyes as he heard all the teasing and pushing on him his friends did. His gaze went to a grey male wolf, who chuckled as he had his hands in his black pants, opening his yellow golden eyes that almost matched his friend's._

_"Scaredy cat? Is that really the best you've got, Rex? I would say he is more like a coward."_

_A grey raccoon huffed in a contemptuous way as she turned her attention at the grey wolf with her stinging brown eyes as she slightly smirked._

_"Says you? You can't stop freaking out at the sight of just one of Nega's robots. You are even shaking to death whenever you see one. Even after its beaten." She said in a very mocking way, causing everybody to slight laughing and this Rex gave her a high five as Silver slightly smirked as he saw the grey wolf's annoyed and slightly pink face. Soon, however, it returned back to what it was before as he continued to refuse on singing that song he made._

_That was, however, until a cat, a female, stood behind him, making Silver slightly nervous as she took him around his shoulder, and the white male looked with slightly guilty eyes at the ground._

_"Come on. Please, Silvy! Do it for me." The cream coloured cat said, wearing a blue and white coloured dress and matching shoes as she placed her hands on the white psychokinetic's shoulders. She placed her chin on one of them as she looked at her boyfriend in a begging manner, smiling sweetly at him with her dreamy dark emerald green eyes. Silver began blushing as he heard her nice smooth voice, feeling like he was slightly melting inside as his heart began pumping faster. He looked away from the girl. He didn't want to make eye contact with her as he began groaning in slight annoyance and defeat._

_Seeing him moving his gaze away in embarrassment, Amanda decided to convince her boyfriend to just get over with it. Kissing gently his cheek, she moved around him and sat on his lap as she held her arms around his neck._

_Turning his face towards the green sweet eyes made Silver flush slightly as he kept staring at his girlfriend, still with his arms crossed though as soon as he saw her eyes, his expression turned to slight delight as a small smile appeared on lips as he sighed. Kissing his cheek again, Amanda looked in a begging at him with her eyes huge and pleading._

_"Please, Silver. For me. I want to hear you sing. Pleeeaaase."_

_Seeing her huge shining eyes made Silver's ears slightly lower down as he looked down at the ground with his arms still crossed as he groaned highly._

_"Okay. I will do it." He finally said in defeat. He hated when his girlfriend became sad and if she wanted something, Silver would be more than happy to give her it. Gently he kissed her lips as they stared into each other eyes. "But only because it's you."_

_Both leaned forward and shared their passion with each other, letting them taste each other as Silver wrapped his arms around the girl and as they both began moaning._

**_.:Flashback end:._**

Thinking about it made her shatter some tears that she always quickly wiped away. For Blaze, it didn't look like she was important to her best friend at all. He was happy with his friends, his girlfriend; he didn't need her anymore.

Letting a sad sigh out, she replayed the song, listening to Silver's sweet voice singing. The choice was hers which singer she wanted to listen to and, although Bentley Jones had more experience in singing, she choose Silver over him. Silver wasn't that bad when you thought about it. He sang pretty descent.

The melody made the cat bob her head to the music and soon, she couldn't hold back her own eager to sing.

_In the nightlight, do you still feel your pain?  
>For the valor you waited, it never came.<br>If you were able, would you go change the past,  
>To mend a faux pas with one last chance?<em>

_And I might know of our future.  
>But then you still control the past.<br>Only you know if you'll be together tonight_

_'Cause every night I will save your life.  
>And every night I will be with you.<br>Cause every night I still lay awake.  
>And I dream of an absolution.<em>

_Cause every night I will make it right.  
>And every night I will come to you.<br>But every night it just stays the same,  
>In my dream of an absolution.<em>

In the end, she started to hum with the melody. It would be quite embarrassing for her if anybody heard her sing so she stopped as quickly as she had started.

"That song has really been stuck on your brain for a long time now, huh, Blaze?"

Just managing to hear someone talking behind her, the purple cat turned around and spotted the azure hedgehog leaning over the bench she sat on. Once seeing his proud smile, she looked down towards the grown in rather misery, taking her earphones out and sighed before nodding her head slightly.

"I guess you can say that." She said quietly. "I just… I don't really know. It makes me feel he is near me. Hearing his voice and all. I haven't heard him speak for three years before yesterday." She tucked her iPod down in her shorts' pocket as well as her earphones and glared down at the white converse. She was thinking about that girl he was with. "I think he has forgotten all about me though."

Sonic plumped down beside the pyrokinetic princess, taking his arm around her and pulled Blaze slightly closer to him as he gave a smile.

"Hey, smile. Don't look like that and don't say something like that either. I mean, if he'd really forgotten all about you, do you then think he would ask me to give you that little present you bear around your wrist?" He said with happiness in his voice, pointing and glaring at the golden charm bracelet hanging around her right hand, glittering in the sunlight. A small smile found its way to her lips. She stuck her glove less hand slightly out, turning it while admiring the best gift ever. "There's that smile I like to see!" He made the cat slightly flush at that statement as he poked her nose and took around her right wrist, causing Blaze to blush a little bit harder and look with huge eyes into his emerald green ones. "Silver cares for you, Blaze. A lot. I just know it. Besides, there is no need to get jealous on that girl. Honestly, to your information, when I travelled through time and ended up in his timeline - that's also where I managed to get that book I gave you, by the way - he told that he was single and that he wanted me to give that gift to you."

He winked at the the surprised cat afterwards, causing her to blush a scarlet red colour when he stated that she was jealous on that girl because she _was_ Silver's girlfriend. Quickly pulling away from his grip, Blaze crossed her arms and looked at the blue smirking hedgehog with slight anger in her amber eyes yet there was some embarrassment in them.

"Don't talk such nonsense! I don't like him that way." She shouted before looking away in deep embarrassment and cursing herself for letting her feelings get over to her head and show them so easily. She was pissed, everybody could see that. "I was just shocked that he was in a relationship and so calm. That's all."

Sonic chuckled as he pulled her back to him, thinking her behaviour was cute. Very cute actually. "You know what? You look cute when you are angry." He laughed as he let go of the feline, taking to his chest and tried catching his breath.

Blaze was hurt, feeling embarrassed and sad because of Sonic's laughing at her. It gave her a bit of flashback of the horrible bullied past she had had.

Realizing the feline had become quiet and looked away with a miserable expression, Sonic cursed himself for being suck a jerk to her. Sometimes his mouth seemed to be even faster than his brain and even faster than his feet, and he knew that. He cleared his throat and stopped laughing, shuffling closer and placed his hands on the princess' shoulders, hoping that she would accept his apology.

"Hey, are you okay?" He slammed himself at the forehead for asking such a dumb question and start over with being sorry. "I mean, I'm sorry I hurt you, Blaze. I guess I need to think before speaking. It wasn't my meaning to hurt your feelings."

She didn't wanted to talk to him. He didn't understand anything on how to be careful with others feelings. Unlike Silver. He was the sweetest guy ever and understands everybody on how it feels to be alone and out of society. He was caring, full of hope, sweet, generous, a gentleman, determined, headstrong and very handsome too.

Her muzzle heated up at those thoughts. Every time her mind crossed the white psychokinetic hedgehog, her heart always seemed to melt and her knees feeling like jelly.

Sonic placed his hands on her waist and pulled too much, causing the girl to fall down on his lap. Blaze's amber eyes widened in surprise and at the same time blushing at his unexpected move. He himself blushed as he realized what just happened. Amber and emerald orbs stared at each other for some seconds before the princess decided to ignore their rather awkward position. She looked away, rolling around to lie on her stomach, her arms crossed with her head on top of them. She felt the speedster shakily tracing his hand down her side, causing her to purr. It seemed to surprise him greatly, but what did he expect? Making her feel comfortable and please her makes a cat like her purrr.

Looking nervously around him to see if anybody was watching him and Blaze almost cuddling together, he saw nothing or nobody who looked strange or mysterious; just some people and mobians walking by and doing their everyday work before the big party tonight. He was probably looking for Amy, but seeing that neither she nor anybody he knew, he turned his attention down on his lap and continued stroking Blaze, letting her feel there was some caring and apologizing about what he did.

Blaze continued to purr at Sonic's slow and soft moves over her back, making her feel a bit better about the situation. Her expression showed nothing but misery, a will in her eyes, a desire to see the hedgehog she loved, once again. She could clearly imagine his appearance in her head. Five long pointy front quills, two that had grown out of his back head, two on his back, golden shining hopeful eyes. A teal chequered loose t-shirt, blue jeans, white sneakers with blue stripes on and last his white gloves with that very special cyan circle mark on each side of one glove. Thinking about him made her heart arch in slight pain at the empty feeling inside it. She sighed out, closed her eyes as a few small tears streamed down her cheek and landed on the azure hedgehog's pants.

Feeling the few wet spots on his blue pants, Sonic knew Blaze was beginning to let her feelings take control of her again just as they did yesterday. Taking his finger down to her eyes, he wiped the tears away from them and rubbed the wetness away from her cheeks, causing her to flush again as she wiped his hand away and rubbed it away herself. Sonic sighed before speaking to the old crush of his.

"Listen, Blaze. You gotta let go of him. Thinking about him all the time just lets your feelings take too much control of you."

That statement made Blaze very furious and she shot up, giving the speedy impatient hedgehog a nasty surprise. Gritting her teeth in anger, she stared deadly at Sonic before shouting in his face.

"Oh, yeah, right. Like I am going to do that! 'Just let go of him, Blaze.' Pfft." The princess plumped back down on his lap again, having a very annoyed and pissed off face expression showing clearly up. She turned upwards, seeing Sonic's very surprised and slight scared face. "Let me ask you something. Would you be able to let go of Tails? Or Amy for that matter?"

Before I could continue, however, the same very pink hedgehog showed up, gasped highly as she saw me lying on Sonic's lab from a distance.

"SOOOOONIC!"

Both the hedgehog and cat turned around, seeing a very angry Amy making her way towards them with her pink hair almost turning red from her anger as steam seemed to escape her. In her eyes, Sonic was cheating on her to that cat princess. Anybody stealing her man or him flirting with other girls would be a big mistake if she was around. And Sonic already knew that. Once he saw his girlfriend stomping her way towards the pair, he quickly pushed Blaze aside with widened eyes, stood up and shook his hands while saying that the situation was not what it looked like.

"Please, Amy! Believe me. It's not what it may seem like. I was only trying to-"

"Yeah, you were cheating on me for that… that… that hussy!" She shouted and stared deadly at the princess who was very surprised for Rose's choice of words.

"Hussy? Excuse me."

"You heard me, your highness! I called you a hussy! A hussy who is trying to steal my Sonic!" She said and went closely to Blaze's face, her teal-green eyes burning with fire inside them.

Sonic quickly went between the two angry girls, seeing that this was getting out of hand. "Whoa, Amy! Please listen!" He said and stopped her by holding her shoulders and pushing her away from the princess of Solaria. "I was only trying to help her. I-"

"Trying to help her?! By flirting!? I-I… I thought you loved me, Sonic! How could do this to me!?" Amy began crying in the thinking that Sonic was just going to drop her like that. He told he loved her even though she always seemed to be all fan girl-like all over him, chasing him and stuff. He said she was unique in his eyes, a sweet girl who never gave up on her goals.

All these thoughts seemed to tear Amy's heart and she ran off with Sonic who quickly stopped her at the park entrance, trying to knock some senses into his girlfriend by communicating and showing that he loved her and only her. It took quite some time and as Amy realized that she had misunderstood the whole thing, but once she did, she went back to the bench and tell Blaze she was sorry for calling her a hussy while holding hands with Sonic, but as they reached the point where the whole scene had found place, she had vanished.

"What the? How? Where… where is she? She was here just a minute ago!" Sonic exclaimed, surprised that the princess had suddenly disappeared as he and Amy spoke to each other, getting the things clear for the rosy female hedgehog.

Humming in thoughts, Amy searched the area a bit, thinking on what could make Blaze suddenly walk away. Of course, there was the possibility of the thing with she calling her hussy and shouting at her, but Blaze usually doesn't take those things so serious and keep her head cool in a situation Amy created. Finally, after walking into the castle and staring up at the clock, she and Sonic realized that it was almost time. Time for the Festival's opening ceremony.

...

Looking around his new surroundings after exiting the GUN base, which was hidden underground where no public could come in, Silver found himself in an old dirty alley of some kind. Maybe the slum dogs alley. Who knows? Silver didn't care where he were, all that mattered was that he needed to get away from there and find a way to Soleanna.

Walking at a rather fast pace, Silver felt eyes staring at him from all the different gangs he went pass until he finally came out of the dark alley, seeing the beautiful Italian capital city, Spagonia, watching humans and mobians, families and boy or girl groups, walking by as they were out shopping, eating out on the beautiful dawn, or enjoying the lovely warm summer evening. Business was a word of the city too. Cars and busses drove by, lot of people went between each other, more than Silver even thought would be there. And it seemed they were heading south towards the City of Water. But of course, our male albino hedgehog had no clue on where Soleanna was. He had only been there once in his life and it was three years ago and as he remembered it, he ended up in Soleanna's Forest just as he arrived. Now it seemed differently.

He was miles away from the City of Water and he knew that. Trying to find some courage and ask for help, Silver found it harder than it sounded. Still being insecure when he was alone, all he could was to try and find his own way to Soleanna. He walked around Spagonia for hours and the sun was slipping behind the horizon. For what the hedgehog knew then the opening ceremony would begin at 10 o'clock as the latest, but it would possibly start an hour earlier. Finding a clock tower at the plaza he realized how much time he had wasted and began running around the busy city, trying to find a way to Soleanna. He knew his situation was critical and he really thought about using his psychokinetic abilities to fly up and see if he could have a better view if he had a birds-eye perspective over Spagonia.

He clenched his eyes shut, fighting against himself if he should do it or not. However, it was a bad thing to do, though it seemed luck was on his side.

He bumped straight into an old, very old, man, causing both to fall with a loud sound of butt hitting the asphalt ground. Rubbing his head, Silver groaned and realized what happened, shoot his head up and saw the old grey-haired man who had his eyes almost covered with the long grey eyebrows of his, wearing a brown suit with a white shirt underneath, red bow tie and darker brown shoes.

"My, my. Why in such a hurry, young man? Why not try and enjoy the small things in life?" The man asked.

Feeling his cheeks heat up in embarrassment, Silver found himself dumbfounded. It took some seconds before he quickly rose to his feet, excused about not looking where he was running as he helped the older man up to his feet.

"I am really sorry, sir. I-"

"Sir? My name is Professor Pickle. Or just Pickle for shot. Tell me, young feller, why the rush?" Pickles asked the silver male hedgehog as he studied him. Before Silver could answer, however, Pickle continued to talk as he rubbed his chin in thoughts with a smile on his lips and a small delighted laugh escaped him. "Well, well. If it isn't Sonic! Welcome back, my boy! It's been a long time now, hasn't it? How have you been, youngster?"

Silver blinked his eyes repeatedly in confusion at this state that this professor thought he was another person. The speedy blue hedgehog. He glared a bit on him, thinking on how the heck someone could replace him for Sonic; only Amy had done that but it was dark when they first time met, so that one was more understanding.

_'He thinks I am Sonic? Seriously, I don't look one bit like him, do I?'_

Just as he was about to answer, another man, one who was four times younger than the professor, came and saw that the older man thought this silvery hedgehog was Sonic. He has brown hair and freckles along his cheeks under his brown eyes; a swamp coloured sweater pulled over the white shirt and a doll green tie, green long open jacket with the same coloured pants as the tie. Setting into a faster paced walk, he waved at the old professor.

"Oh, there you are professor. I've been looking all over for you."

Professor Pickle recognized the voice and turned around, seeing his young assistant walk up to him with a book about Soleanna's history and mystery under his arm. The professor was delighted to see his assistant that he smiled and turned his attention away from Silver.

"Ah, Travis. Where have you been? I was on my way towards the train station because you were taking so long." He said as his smile slightly disappeared but seeing that the younger one got the book Pickle wanted, his smiled increased. "Good, you got the book. That a boy. Now allow me to introduce you to an old feller of mine. Sonic the Hedgehog."

He waved behind him at Silver so that Travis could see him only to see the silvery hedgehog face palm. Letting a small giggle escape him, he turned his attention towards the old man and placed his hand on Silver.

"I am sorry to tell you this, professor, but this mobian isn't Sonic, though he is a hedgehog like him." He said while scratching his back head in confusion, looking in curiosity at the future Sonic-looking hedgehog and took his hand off his shoulder.

Pickle looked confused at his assistant and then looked over at the hedgehog who sighed deeply out.

"He isn't?" Pickle asked with his hands behind his back, with his hided eyes looking at the male white hedgehog shaking his head. "Tell me, young feller, who are you then if not Sonic?"

"My name is Silver. Silver the Hedgehog. It may be hard to believe but I come 200 years into the future though I am friends with Sonic." Silver said in a slight nervous and insecure tone. The two human beings raised their eyebrows while looking with huge eyes in disbelief at the hedgehog before them. You could even see Professor Pickle's brown eyes mixed with a slight tinge of green in them. "I know. You might not believe me at all but what I am telling you is the truth."

Rubbing his chin in thoughts, Pickle walked around the male hedgehog, studying him at every angle, which did freak Silver slightly out, making him gulp in nervous, pull on his collar to get some air as he was sweat dropping at the professor's way at examining him.

"Hmm…. Ah, now I remember! So, you are this feller who tried to kill Sonic a few years ago. Am I quite right?" Pickle suddenly exclaimed as he remembered a little adventure Sonic told him. He was interested in hearing what adventure Sonic had been on after the episode with Dark Gaia was over.

Silver blushed lightly, but his redness disappeared quite quickly, his hands turning into fists as his eyes closed in aggression and his face turned to a different direction. He sighed in melancholy as he calmed a bit down.

"Yeah, I am. It wasn't my meaning to kill him just like that. I was just desperate… I guess."

Looking down on his watch bracelet, Travis realized that their time was slowly slipping from them, and had to interrupt Professor Pickle and Silver's conversation.

"Uhm, Professor." He said, causing both the old man and hedgehog to face him. "We have to leave now. The festival of Soleanna begins in less than two hours."

"Right. Let us go now, or else we will be late. Besides, I am half starved." Pickle said and was on his way down to the black car before Silver went in front of him and his assistant, looking very surprised and fully alert when he mentioned the City of Water.

"Wait, you're heading for Soleanna?" He asked in great shock, being on his guards. The two humans nodded, about to talk again but Silver was ahead of them while pointing at himself with his hand over his chest. "I-I've been trying to figure out how to get there this last hour. Do you think you can tell me where to go?"

Pickle chuckled warmly at the hedgehog's desperate need and motioned him over to him as he began walking down towards his car.

"Well, what a coincidence. Sure, just hop in and we will take you there. It's much easier that way."

Silver's eyes widened and Travis rolled his eyes with a smile on his lips as he threw the book in on the front seat and sat beside that seat while putting the keys into the car. Over the years, he had become very good friends with the professor and was gladly helping him whenever needed. In addition, he was his personal driver. The professor had become a rather old man and driving was not his speciality anyways.

Silver began speaking slightly nervous, his insecure side taking over him.

"Are… are you sure? I don't want to be a burden." He said rather nervously as he saw the professor seating himself inside the car and Silver peaked in, seeing the warm smile on the old man's face.

"Oh don't talk like that, young feller. You are not a burden to anyone, quite the opposite. Now get in and have a perfect sliced cucumber sandwich. Travis has been so excited to meet the princess of Soleanna again after several years." Pickle said as he pointed behind him where Travis was hiding his slightly red freckled face while he scratched his neck while Pickle handed a cucumber sandwich to Silver which he didn't accept and stood in the doorway.

"Professor, I told you she is just a very old friend. We have known each other since we were kids and she invited me to the festival on several occasions but I never had time to get there because of studying at the university and all." He said with that small nervous smile on his lips and a blush on his face.

Silver jumped in and sat over for Professor Pickle, closed the door and put the safety belt over his body so that he would be secured in any accident if it would happen.

"You know Elise?" He asked as he they began driving. Travis nodded his head for showing approval to the curious male behind him.

"I have known her since we were kids. We used to play a lot and she didn't have that many friends outside the castle. However, once we got older I had to move here to Spagonia to go in High School then University. I haven't seen her since I was 16. It's like 7 seven years or something. No, it is actually seven years, yes."

Silver plumped backwards from this small story, his expression showing some slight misery as he thought of another princess. A beautiful one and she had always haunted his dreams after she had leave him. Glaring out the window, seeing the city move by, he spoke again.

"That sounds just like how Blaze and I were. Before she had to leave me, too. I haven't seen her for three years though." He said quietly in slight sadness, his ears lowering themselves. They went up again as he heard the professor talking and he turned his attention over to him.

"Blaze? Why do I get a strange feeling of having heard that name before?" He said as he rubbed his chin in thoughts, taking a bite of his cucumber sandwich.

"Well, I guess it's because you think of the princess of Sol. She lives in an alternate dimension and takes part of the Festival every year because of some certain events happened three years ago." Travis answered before stopping up at red light.

"That's her!" Silver exclaimed in great surprise, not thinking that everybody knew what he figured out 28 hours ago. "That's Blaze. She and I have been best friends since childhood, too. Everybody bullied her because of her… special abilities. She doesn't trust people that easily. Other than me. She just… had to leave because of this creature we call Iblis had destroyed my world. He's also the reason why I was so desperate in getting rid of Sonic three years back."

Silver's ears flattered against his skull at the thoughts and memories that replayed inside his mind once again. His voice was full of sadness, which tried to be hidden by himself, but the two humans could hear how painful it was for him at that time.

"Now, now. Let's not think back at bad times. What I am curious about is this adventure you had with her and why she had to leave. Please tell me; what exactly happened?" Pickle asked with his hands against his chin and his elbows on his knees, looking very interested in the hedgehog's so far slight exciting and captive story.

Silver started from the beginning. How he was born into a world of devastation. A world of flames destroying and burning everything in their paths. The fiery creature, Iblis, who was the origin of that catastrophe. How he lost his family and grew up on an orphanage in this alternate dimension his mother send him to and met Blaze when he was at the end of his 8 years out in the castle gardens, which were strictly not allowed to be on except for the members of the royal family themselves and the ones living in the castle. That she was bullied because of her ability to control fire; that slipped from his mouth and he felt he had to tell them that he possessed Psychokinesis, the ability to move yourself and objects with your mind. This state was quite shocking for both the professor and his assistant, especially the part of the royal lavender feline's pyrokinetic powers.

But anyway. He continued with how they both created a very strong and inseparable bond between them. When they suddenly appeared at Silver's home when they were thirteen and began fighting against Iblis. How, when they began losing hope, they met Mephiles, one of the main reasons he had travelled back in time to get the scepter that contained him back from his archenemy, Doctor Eggman Nega. He was tricked by the shadowy hedgehog and tried to kill Sonic afterwards. When he figured out that he lied to him, Silver tried to save Elise from Eggman. Every detail and event that took place in and outside Soleanna 3 years ago, he told them. Both were speechless when he was done and told how he lost his only best friend and defeated the eternal Sun God, Solaris, with the two other hedgehogs, Shadow and Sonic.

"Well, that's some story. You must really miss her." Travis said as he kept his gaze at the road ahead. Silver's story made him slow down the speed because it was too exciting. They would probably be in Soleanna in half an hour, and he knew they wouldn't make it to see the beginning of the opening ceremony.

Silver placed his head in his palm, staring in misery out the window with his gaze at the shining moon. Hard to believe it was summer at that time and already dark, though a slight glim of the sun was still visible. He hummed a yes to the driver totally lost in his own thoughts, his mind being only on the most beautiful girl ever he oh so much longed to see. What he didn't know that that empty space was being filled more and more out the closer they got to Soleanna.

Suddenly, the thoughts of Blaze and everything else around him seemed to stop as a big bump from the car snapped him back from his fantasy.

"Oh, no! Why now?" Travis groaned loudly in irritation before he unbuckled his safety belt and opened the door with Professor Pickle doing the same. "Argh! The deck is flat and it looks like something is wrong with the motor, too."

"Step back, Travis. Time for me to show that trashcan who is boss." Pickle said as he took a wrench and made his way to the motor only to be stopped by his assistant who sweat dropped and pushed the older man back.

"Uh, it's okay, Professor. I can handle it. Just stay here and wait. I will take care of things." He said as he took the wrench away from Pickle, opened the motor and start repairing the car.

Seeing that there was nothing he could do, Silver went back to his previous position, staring out in the night sky with the moon on top of it. His mind returned to Blaze. Her face was clearly visible in his head, the way he saw her in their somewhat sharing dream. That perfect face and body of hers. Her face was what bored the most into his mind at the moment. Those shining amber eyes with their fiery flare in them. Her lavender fur almost glowing up her face; every hair sat perfectly and cleaned. Her hair itself had become longer, a slight different style than what he was used to, but he liked the changes to her. Her lips… oh those lips bored into him. They looked so smooth and warm, perfect for a kiss he wanted to give her.

He shook his head lightly, blushing at the thought of kissing his long lost best friend. A friend who meant more than just a friend to him. She meant everything to Silver. Her feisty yet caring personality made in shiver slightly yet it was so addictive to him that he wanted some more from her. He desired her. Her beauty made his heart pump faster, his muzzles heat up and that eagerness to just touch her, to hold her, embrace her, it made it even more unbearable for Silver to be apart from her.

His sensitive ears twitched, bringing him back from his daydreaming of the perfect girl. He looked through the car's window, rolled it down and narrowed his eyes up to the moon. It might have been his eyes playing with him or Silver was actually seeing something rather quickly yet slowly moving across the sky. Something big and it felt familiar. It was invisible and Silver was unsure if he was just seeing things or if it actually could be Nega's airship that had turned invisible, moving its way towards the City of Water, Soleanna.

Looking behind him, he saw that Travis and Professor Pickle still having trouble on the motor and, following his guts, he unbuckled his seat belt, opened the window wide opened, activated his Psychokinesis and flied slowly upwards, leaving a cyan tail of glow behind him.

...

She gazed out on the city. The number of citizens was rapidly increasing by the minute.

The lavender feline princess bit her lips nervously. Tonight was her turn. She was finally going to be setting the torch a lit with beautiful blazing flames and she couldn't do anything against it. Along her body, she had switched her blue shorts and red t-shirt out with the beautiful magenta dress that reached the very top of her ankles. The hemlines all around it was golden and a long cut was revealing her gorgeous leg on the side. The fabric wrapped around her arms were almost like gloves, only it wasn't closed at the end but folded with a white sleeve and golden hemlines on the top of these long open gloves as well. The fabric colour was magenta as the dress was. Her shoes had a rather high heel on with grey soles, the fabric colour was the same as the dress as well, and there was a folded white cuff on it as on the open gloves.

Switching her gaze to the moon, she felt lonely. She hated her life as it currently was. Her father was desperately trying to find her a suiting upcoming husband and she just wanted to be left alone, not ready to court with someone at all. Only man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with was a certain ivory hedgehog with golden eyes like herself and came far from into the future. She would definitely never see him again. It had always been a fight between her and her dad. He was very conservative and followed as much as he could the old traditions. She did not like that. She just wanted to be free as Sonic; spend her life just as she pleased with no rules and a place where she just could be herself.

All these thoughts almost made her shatter some tears but didn't. One of those things she would have to thank her headstrong and high tempered father for another time. She didn't cry very often unless people really hit her right spot. If people acted like they did to her as little or if the subjected landed on her secret love. She missed him. Very much. That tore her heart apart. Being apart from him had been a challenge. No one to trust, no one to comfort or help you through the dark times. Other than her mother. She seemed to understand Blaze more than anybody else did. Her caring nature, her headstrong and motherly role, her smile, her beauty, almost everything sweet and nice about her mother she had gotten. She understood her almost as much as Silver did.

"Silver…"

Her sad whisper out to the wind came expected yet unpredicted. Her heart ached inside her. How much she wished to see him. See that loving caring smile he always had on his lips, hearing him being naïve, feeling his comfort and his embraces; she just wanted one more day to be happy. Just one more day.

"But it seems like I can't get anything I want."

A small tear escaped her eyes which she quickly dried off, stared up into the sky. A weird feeling rushed through her heart, down to her stomach, to her legs, out in her arms and last to her head. Something told her that danger was coming towards the city. She shook it off, telling herself that it was all her imaginations.

"Well, are you ready, Blaze?"

Turning around, she spotted the orange echidna Sonic introduced her to earlier today. Much earlier today. Her name was Shade and she was originally from Tikal's time but something happened to her and her clan and they were trapped inside something called the Twilight Cage. A place where no time existed. Her clan, the Nocturnus Clan, had been stuck in there for thousands of years and not one day had passed them inside that horrible dark place. In the end, they managed to escape but her leader, Imperator Ix, was a traitor. He always told Shade and her clan that all he wanted was getting back and have peace, and not take over the world. However, he fooled her. She, Sonic, Knuckles and their friends fought against Ix and trapped him, alongside other echidnas, inside the Twilight Cage while Shade decided to go over on Sonic's side and successfully they managed to get out of the Cage and back to Earth.

Her story had impressed Blaze and she found out that she get quite well along with Shade. They turned out to be very good friends. But she still didn't fully trusted her. For unknown reasons. Still, she felt like Shade was a very good comrade and a great fighter.

She wore a black t-shirt with violet starts, some coloured elastic jeans, black and purple converse, fingerless black gloves, two silver bracelets with a glowing purplish line in the middle of it and a black headband. Her quills hang backwards and with peach coloured stripes at the end of them. Her eyes were a magenta colour like the princess' dress was.

Blaze sighed out as her gaze turned back to the plaza where people gathered around the huge Soleanna torch.

"Hi, Shade. I do not know. Something… just doesn't seems to be right. As if something bad will happen." She said as she had turned her attention up to the shining beautiful moon, hearing the echidna's footsteps nearing her and before the feline knew it, her friend was leaning against the fence of the balcony too, standing beside the pyrokinetic princess. "Yet, I feel something… unbelievable and wonderful will happen through this horrible event."

The echidna placed her hand on the royal's shoulder, causing her to look to her left and into those purplish eyes that was telling everything would be all right.

Blaze sighed as she stared back to the filled plaza. Seemed like everyone was there by now.

"You know, you shouldn't think too much about it. Besides, what could happen on a night like this?" Shade asked as she removed her hand from the feline beside her, staring at her with friendly eyes and a smile on the echidna's face.

Blaze shrugged while slight shaking her head.

"I do not know, Shade. It's just my stomach feeling that, as if something terrible will happen and a wonderful thing also will happen through this upcoming bad event."

Shade crossed her arms and leaned in over the fence, staring upwards into the dark sky with a smirk on her face, letting a small delighted chuckle escape her throat.

"Your guts are strange."

"You are strange." The princess gave back, smirking as she saw the echidna laughing softly while nodding her head slightly.

"I can't deny that, can I?" She said as she continued to chuckle and Blaze was soon laughing with her, feeling her mode was suddenly good again.

"Thanks, Shade." She said as she looked at the full plaza then over at the orange echidna's smiling face. "Thank you for cheering me up. I really appreciate it."

"Ah, it's no big deal. You're welcome though." Shade said as she stared out on the scenery once again.

Blaze seemed trouble though. No matter what she tried to do, her stomach kept on wrenching as if telling something very bad was about to happen tonight. However, it also turned in the other direction, almost tickling her stomach as if something good would happen too. However, Blaze decided to ignore it, just taking the things and events as they came. There was nothing she would be able to do anyway.

Shade clasped her hands down on the fence, remembering why she came up to the princess in the first place.

"Well, that wasn't the reason why I came up here though. The Festival is about to begin and Princess Elise asked me to check on you. Also, I think the ceremony is about to begin anyway. So it's time for us to go."

Looking at the princess beside her nodding her head in slight hesitation, Shade knew that Blaze was feeling something off in the air. She felt herself but just wanted to make sure nobody was worried up to the opening ceremony.

"Yes. You are right. It's time to go." Blaze said and let go of the fence, turned around and approached the door exit to her room slowly. Shade remained where she was for some seconds, staring at the princess as she reached the door. Blaze turned around, facing the echidna with slight confusion visible in her face. "Are you coming?"

Shade nodded her head, took one last glance at the moon before walking out with Blaze as leader.

...

Shade had gathered with the others out in the crowd, close to the water so that they could have a clear view of both the huge torch and Blaze herself. Before they knew it, the silver glittering boat was moving into the plaza, people giving a huge applause when they saw the two princesses waving out to them while firework was visible in the sky.

She just waved to random people while trying to have a lookout for her friends, having a somewhat fake smile upon her lips. Feeling a puff against her arm, Blaze turned towards Elise who pointed her head in the direction across the water. There she saw them. Her friends waving like crazy, trying to shout to get Blaze's attention with no luck but she managed to see them, her smile turning into a real one as she waved back at them.

Before she knew it, the boat had suddenly stopped moving and Blaze and Elise began walking up the few steps, closer to the torch. Behind them, one of the escorts, walking up beside Blaze, carried a lot smaller torch and gracefully, the princess accept it. Just as she was moving towards the ceremonial torch and ready to do her speech, she looked into the flames, seeing a lot of pictures moving by. She thought she saw flames and darkness eating up the world, an empty space before her, an adventure she didn't know what was and a scream of sorrow filled her mind. A name made her eyes widened in fright, her heart pumping faster in terror.

_'S-S-Silver?'_

Suddenly, the princess felt a hand on her shoulder and a friendly smooth voice speaking into her ear. Lightly, she shook her head, the pictures disappearing immediately. Turning her head slightly behind, she saw Elise's worried expression. She sighed out with her eyes closed for a second before staring into the grey-blue eyes of the ruler of Soleanna.

"It's all right. I am okay." She said in her professional calm voice. Elise let go of Blaze, worried that something bad and dark had found its way into the pyrokinetic princess' mind. Blaze sighed out one more time, staring up at the torch before closing her eyes, beginning the usual speech. "We give thanks for the blessed flames. May our world continue to have peace. Sun of Soleanna and Kingdom Sol guide and watch over both of our lands with your eternal light…"

She began walking forward, lowered the flaming small torch to the small alter, setting the fire out of it and putting the Soleanna Torch a lit in blazing beautiful flames. The firework reappeared in the sky and Blaze smiled at the sight before her, her mind lost in her own fantasy.

_'I really wish you would be here to see this, Silver.'_

As she and Elise began staring at the torch, she asked the lavender fire princess why she suddenly hesitated. Blaze was mute for some seconds but eventually she began speaking after exhaling.

"I don't know. One second I am ready to speak, slightly looking into the flames and next I see these odd visions of some kind and…"

Suddenly, she is interrupted by the sounds of screaming, the earth shaking and the sky filled with lights from an aircraft. Cannon balls hurled in the air towards the ground, destroying buildings around the plaza as well as the great torch itself. A yelp escaped both princess and Blaze dropped the smaller torch, the screams, the aircraft, and the cannon balls crumpling the buildings around them drowned the clinging sound of it hitting the ground.

Unexpected of the attack, the princesses glared upwards in shock as the aircraft dropped robots into the city; some in it and some surrounding the two royalties and their escorts, maids and priest. Glaring all upwards at the sound of a hovercraft, the princesses was held protectively by their escorts, all recognizing the hovercraft. However, the man was not the person they thought it was. No, this person was far more ingenious and smart, dangerous and nasty looking from the person Elise and her men and women knew. Narrowing her eyes, she spotted the man bowing in respect for her and Blaze, hearing the other princess growl in anger, her eyes showing pure hatred. Ignoring the female beside her, Elise said a name, saying it as a question.

"Doctor Eggman?"

The older man looked up; an evil ugly smile appeared on his lips that made Elise gasp as she took to her mouth and a step back. The old scientist was very different from Eggman though the marks of him were the same. Instead of brown hair, this person had a longer and filthier grey moustache, meaning that he must have been much older than Eggman. He wore blue pointy sunglasses, a pair of green goggles on his hairless head, and more wrinkles than his look-a-like. Along his legs were long bright red pants, his shoes were black with yellow stripes - though they weren't visible -, his jacket was black and having yellow stripes on it as well. His hands were covered with white gloves and his laugh was creepier than Eggman's was. It was more high-pitched and full of evilness.

"It's an honour to meet you at last, Princess of Soleanna. Unfortunately, for you I am not Doctor Eggman. My name is Doctor Eggman Nega, descendant of him." He said as his attention turned to the pyrokinetic princess and bearer of what he wanted to harness, seeing her create a flaming ball in her hand and throw it towards him. An invisible barrier blocked the attack, measuring that the attack was up on the highest levels and full of raw energy. The exact same energy he wanted to obtain. He chuckled. "Oh, how rude of me. It sure has been a long time now, your highness. As a matter of fact, I have studied a bit and figured that you have something I want. And I am not only talking about the Sol Emeralds and the Chaos Emerald you little friend possess."

He pointed towards Elise who had taken her blue Chaos Emerald out, holding it tightly to her chest as if it was her precious belonging, gasping at this state. Nega smirked before continuing, looking over at is archenemy. "I've come to obtain the Flames of Disaster from you!"

Blaze's eyes widened and she gasped highly, taking a few steps back. She shook her head as she returned to normal, her expression turning from shock to disgust and rage.

"Never! I won't let you get a hold on them!"

Smirking, Nega knew she was going to say that and snapped his fingers one time. This short amount of confusion among the escorts and the princess gave the invisible robots their opportunity to knock the escorts away from her, taking her around her arms and holding her tightly while Blaze struggled to get free, surprised of of her nemesis' sudden unpredictable yet predicted move.

Elise gasped again and tried leaning forward for her but her men held her back while she cried out Blaze's name.

Blaze struggled to get free, hearing her enemy laugh at her. She looked up, anger showed up in her eyes and she felt her blood boiling with the Flames inside her.

"I don't think so. You see, I need those flames to take over the world, so, whether or not you feel it comfortable, your highness, you will have to come with me." He said, snapping his fingers twice while motioning the robots of bringing the almost captive princess to him while pointing some of his other robots towards Elise and the emerald she held.

Blaze tried desperately to get free and used her powers to no avail. These two robots seemed to be the only fireproofed ones who were strong enough to drag her towards Nega's hovercraft, very much against her will. Suddenly, the grip of the robots disappeared and Blaze collapsed to her knees. Feeling the fast wind swirling around them, hearing it and see the blue glow in it, Blaze knew who her saviour was.

The gust of wind suddenly stopped and the hedgehog stood still on top of one of those pillars for the torch.

"Well, that's one for heroic hedgehog and zero for crazy evil scientist!" Sonic said as he crossed his arms, standing on the same pillar as he did three years ago. He turned his attention down to Blaze, seeing her still being on her knees, thanking him for saving her in time. Hearing the mad doctor shout at Sonic, cursing him for interrupting, the cobalt hedgehog turned his attention towards the hovercraft, his eyes getting slightly bigger though a delighted yet challenging smile spread across his face. "Nega? Long time since I last saw your ugly face."

"Gah! Not you again! Robots get that hedgehog! I want him destroyed as well as the rest of them, but bring me Princess Blaze, alive!" The evil mad doctor said before hovering slightly higher up away from the upcoming battle arena.

Upon hearing this state, the pyrokinetic princess' eyes widened and immediately a robot appeared in front of her, readying itself to slam into her and knock her out. However, Blaze saw it coming and made a back flip, standing in fighting position a few meters away from it before jumping into the air, hurling down towards the robot with her foot ready to strike and kicking the head off the machine. Unexpected for the princess was that the robot self-exploded afterwards, knocking her a few meters backwards and landed on her back, a grunting groan escaping the feline. More robots hovered in the air, having their guns set at the princess. Blaze jumped to her feet, activating her flames out in her palms and attacked her foes.

Over at Elise and her men and maids, the robots were ready to fire at them. However, they remained a bit hesitating and before they could react, Sonic homed in on the enemies, attacking them in his ball form. The most of them he managed to wipe away but some was destroyed by others. More precisely, a high grunt escaped a male, and as he said this, he slammed his fist right through a robot, making it lower its weapon and crumbling under the punch.

"Well, thought you would have a fight without me?" The echidna said smirking before he leaped himself onto a bunch of the hovering robots above him, punching them so that they fell into the water and jumped over to the next robot.

A spinning pink figure slammed her hammer through the robots that had managed to surround Elise and her protective men, sending the foes into the air and explode as they hit their comrades. Afterwards she jumped into the air, slamming her hammer right down on a robot that was ready to attack her man. Above her, the cream-coloured rabbit and her chao slammed down on the hovering robots, knocking them into the water and spark as they hit it, going out like a light. She flipped her ears to keep her above. Another echidna seemed to help her red friend, used her blades to cut through robots, exposing the inside of them, seeing wires and other electronic devises in them, and at the same time using her feet to kick them backwards or right through them at times.

"Sonic!"

The hedgehog span around, seeing his good two-tailed buddy managing to disintegrate a few robots himself, running up to Sonic.

"Tails! What's the ma-?"

"You need to take Blaze and Elise away from here! Don't worry. We will hold Nega's mechs back while you bring them to safety." The two-tailed yellow fox said, having small cuts along his grey pants, white shirt and blue vest, but no serious bleeding cuts in his skin. It was all small and probably came from the buildings' loose of stone when the cannon balls hit them.

Looking over at Blaze who fell back again, raised to her feet, setting herself a lit with flames and ran straight through the robot before getting knocked back by another one. Elise had backed away from other pairs of robots that neared her, standing at the end of the larger destroyed torch's foothold, having Amy jump in front of the paled princess, swinging her hammer and knock the robots away from the ruler of Soleanna.

Just the looks on this and the small space there were around them, made Sonic look determinant and, without any further ado, he ran over to Blaze, pulled her up to her feet rather roughly, telling her that she had to follow him. He then ran over to Elise, standing beside her and lifted her bridal style, making the princess yelp slightly at the unexpected move from her blue friend. Letting go of her back after she held around his neck, he pulled Blaze closer to him, telling her to follow him again since she got confused of what he meant, yanked her with him as they jumped over the water, ran out of the plaza, towards the other end of town which was in the opposite direction of the castle.

"No! Don't let them escape! Grr! Attack!" Nega cried out, pointing towards the running trio, as his robots shot their bullets towards them, leaving cracked and broken streets after the hedgehog, human and cat, dodging the attacks. Some robots began pursue them, but the most of them were destroyed by Knuckles and Shade in their process, though a very few amounts of them went through and began their pursue for the lavender princess of Sol.

Running as fast as his legs could bear him and at the same time make Blaze keep up with him, Sonic continued to move forwards, turning into several alleys to make sure they would be as far away as possible.

The trio made it quite far away from the scene behind them, before their pursuers managed to keep up to them. Looking behind Sonic, Elise saw the pursuing robots lifting their weapons, firing towards them.

"Sonic! Look out!" She yelled but it was too late. The gunshot hit the azure hedgehog in the leg, causing him to let a painful cry out, tripping over his feet and let go of Elise, both rolling along the smooth yet very hard stone streets. Blood was streaming out of Sonic's leg as he took around it, pressing it down so that the blood loose would be as minimal as possible. They seemed to be far away from the battle. More exactly, they were in a big empty area, only chairs and tables were around them.

Seeing that the hedgehog was out of condition to fight at the moment, Blaze stood in front of the pair where Elise was helping Sonic with his wound with the little piece of bandage she had left. Setting her hands a lit, she began feeling the heat swirl inside her body and soon her entire self was a lit with blazing beautiful yet dangerous flames. Opening her eyes, she felt the anger and at one moment, she was a lit with flames and the next second, she fired her full rage towards the robots, a roar escaping the Flames of Disaster inside her soul as they felt the only thing that was able to make it stronger. Its vessel's rage was feeding Iblis with more energy though not enough to break through. It would have to wait until the very day she would die or cry with deep sorrow, so deep that she wouldn't care about the world around her, letting it crumble with her being so ignorant because of her sorrow-filled pain.

In a mere second, the robots had turned into complete ashes and the area around the feline was burning hot but for Blaze, it was the most wonderful feeling she could feel. Releasing her rage all at once and the hotness around was always calming her down and returning to normal.

Turning around, she saw the shocked expression in her friends' eyes, unbelievable to them how powerful the princess before them actually was. Snapping back to reality, both realized that Blaze took over of bandaging Sonic's leg in since Elise had been in deep shock of the release of the huge amount of flames inside the lavender feline.

Sonic hissed as his old crush tightened the bandage even more, making sure that no blood would escape his leg. As she finished, both human and cat helped the slightly injured Sonic to his legs, which was slightly shaking, though he was still able to stand on them himself.

"Whoa, Blaze. That was some attack. I never thought you had that much power within you." He said in astonishment, glaring at the female lavender cat with slight fright in his eyes though he hid it as much as he could. However, Blaze could see the hidden fright in his eyes and reassured him that there was nothing to fear since she only unleashed her flames in that way if she was very angry and filled with rage. Also, she told the pair that it was only against her enemies and she would never do it public again, though there wasn't anybody around.

Chattering a bit about the unexpected event Nega pulled on them, Elise was having a very bad feeling that this wasn't the last they would see from him, quite the opposite. In fact, Elise pushed Blaze aside, causing her to hit the ground and land on her side, as Elise managed to see something invisible move around the fore princess, but instead of getting hold of the her, it captured the princess of Soleanna.

...

He was too late. The city was an absolute chaotic and horrible sight for him. It almost reminded him of the earlier Crisis City. Buildings was on fire though the fire brigade was doing everything they could to get into the buildings and save the trapped people inside them while trying to kill the fire and at the same time be careful for the robots that was causing them to slightly fail their mission. Luckily, Amy, Tails, Knuckles, The Chaotix, Cream and Cheese and an echidna and raccoon Silver didn't know, was there and did their best to protect the citizens.

Standing on top of the building he stood on three years ago, he had a clear view over the devastated city, his guts telling him that Nega had already been here and try to get Blaze with him if he already haven't archived his goal yet.

Silver widened the destroyed and slightly burning city in complete shock. He cursed himself for being so slow, slamming himself against the head for being so naive that he could this all by himself. He couldn't do it. He needed the help that was gone for all these years. He needed someone to guide him through these events and troubles that came across his path. He needed her. He desired her is more the word.

Closing his eyes and sighing in melancholy, he thought about her, holding and begging to god that she would be okay.

Snapping back to reality after his pray, Silver widened his eyes as he saw the most of the gang was surrounded, no possible escape roots for them. He levitated quickly down to them as the building beside them crumbled, hurling down towards them and their doom.

"Argh! We going to die!" Marine screamed as she clung to Charmy, both screaming at the falling building above them while they hugged each other tightly. Vector went over them, shielding them so that thy could have a bigger chance of survival, while Tails did the same on Cream, causing her to blush but hugged the fox she felt odd for, clenching her eyes shut and whimpered.

Everyone else braced themselves for the hit, only good thing was that they would bring a ton of robots with them but they seemed to have made the building fall because they were already away.

Knuckles and Shade seemed to be only ones who didn't scream though Shade did clung to the red echidna causing him to blush lightly but trying to keep his tough guy attitude, ready to strike through the big building stone to make it shatter.

However, just as he was about to hurl his fist upwards, a teal glow covered it and the building rock suddenly stopped in mid-air.

Everybody was waiting for the building to crash and it never came. All opened their eyes, except Marine and Charmy, and saw the exact same thing Knuckles and Shade saw. The rock above them was hovering.

"What the?" Knuckles said in surprise, feeling the light was all too familiar but couldn't put a finger on it.

Shade was in awe at the light. She had never experienced such mysterious power and she knew this was going to be a time she would remember.

Tails and Cream finally let go of each other, both confused and curious on what made the building suddenly stop from falling.

"No way!" Tails said as he was totally lost for word, only see the light once in his life so he was slightly confused too.

"Are we dead yet?" The two children Vector had stopped shielding asked. Their answer, however, came from an unfamiliar voice that startled them and it came from a person whose voice seemed slightly familiar to Marine.

"Well, the answer is quite easy. No, you are not dead."

Suddenly, a white hedgehog head with five pointy front quills appeared from the rock, the same teal glow covering him. He was upside down, smiling and slight laughing at the startled reaction everybody seemed to have when they turned their attention towards the futuristic hedgehog.

"Silver!" Almost everyone said, relived and glad to see an old friend. He waved at them, saying a simple happy hi. Hearing metalic sounds nearing them, gunshots loaded, he and the rest of the gang turned around, seeing a ton of Nega's robots standing in front of them.

Silver smirked at the sight, turned around and hurled the giant ball formed rock towards the robots. The ball came unexpected for them, destroying them all in one throw and the rock exploded at the robots explosions.

"Strike!" Silver said, bringing his arms into his body and sound a summersault before standing on his feet again. Seeing the others WTF expressions, made Silver slightly sweat drop and scratch his neck. "Ops. Did I say that aloud? Ehe."

Some of them sweat dropped at his state, face palming afterwards. Amy seemed to be the only one who approached Silver, her curiosity getting to her head about his presence here in Soleanna.

"So, Silver, what are you doing here? And why?" She asked in confusion, her hammer disappearing into the thin air like a snap with your fingers.

"Uh, saving the world from Nega. Do I need to say more?" He asked awkwardly in his naive tone, having his arm out as if he shrugged.

Knuckles frowned at that state, having a thought that his emerald was involved in this.

"If this involves the Master Emerald, then I will-"

"Relax, Knux. Your emerald is save." Silver reassured though another unsure expression hit him and it was a lot more serious. "If save means that Nega is after getting Mephiles released and get hold of the Flames of Disaster from Blaze, creating Solaris and take over the world, then yes, the Master Emerald is save."

He sweat dropped badly, shifting awkwardly as everybody, except the Chaotix, Cream, Cheese, Shade and Marine, was having their mouth dropping to the ground in disbelief.

"Say what?" Amy said high pitched, bringing her hammer out and turning red from anger. "If that creep lays a finger on my man I will smash to Timbuktu, giving him a headache he won't forget!"

Steamed seemed to escape the rosy hedgehog again. Cream and Shade quickly went over to her, trying to make her relax.

"Amy, please don't get mad." Cream whimpered as she held onto her arm.

"Cream is right, Amy. Whatever he did must have been bad but don't overreact on this." Shade said as she placed her hand on her shoulder on the other side of her.

This state did piss Amy off, her rage taking control of her.

"Overreact?! Do you realise what he did? He... He killed Sonic!" She cried out, tears escaping like a waterfall from her eyes. She plumped to the ground on her knees, remembering the event. Her hammer fell sideward beside the crying feline.

Those who didn't know anything of the event with Mephiles, Iblis or Solaris, were in total shock of what Amy said.

"What?! Sonic bein killed? That's impossible Amy!" Vector said as his hands waved like crazy.

"I am afraid it's true. This Mephiles hardly any of us know besides Shadow, managed to kill Sonic three years ago." Tails said his expression showing pure misery. Cream came over to him and tried to console him the best way she could.

"Not only that, but Silver was tricked by this dude to kill him." Knuckles continued and everybody looked over at the crossed armed hedgehog, his expression showing anger.

Amy rose to her feet, drying her eyes off after her sudden breakdown.

"It doesn't matter now. We have to stop Nega from realising this creep because he is going to destroy the world and get together with Iblis again no matter the cost if it."

The hedgehog was surprised of Amy's sudden change; being more mature than ever. Then again, Silver had no idea that Amy had become a young mum and this had proven her to be a lot more mature and take more responsibility for hers and others actions.

The hedgehog nodded his head, a smile appearing on his face. As he glanced at the other friends of Sonic, he found a certain raccoon was literately studying him. He seemed familiar to her though she couldn't put a finger on it. That time would come though.

Silver cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention which made him slight nervous to be in the centre.

"You are right. But I can't seem to see Sonic anywhere." He had a good point. Not many of them had seen where the fastest thing alive went but one seems to have an idea.

"I am not entirely sure, but I think he went that way." Tails said, pointing in the exact same direction Sonic ran away with Elise when Eggman attacked maybe City of Water three years ago. "He went that way with Blaze and Elise after Nega's attack."

Silver's eyes went wide though they quickly turned into worries mixed with aggression. A groan escaped him as he sighed out in frustration. His hands formed into fists as he looked down then over at the two tailed fix, his face having a clear serious expression.

"I guess I was too late, wasn't I?" He questioned, his eyes closing. He suddenly felt a hand and once he opened his eyes, he saw a pair of magenta coloured eyes. It was the girl called Shade's eyes.

"Listen, Silver. Standing here and regret won't get you anywhere. If you follow them, you may be able to catch them and prevent this Nega to capture Blaze." She pointed out, her face being filled with hope and the hedgehog felt his own renew. He nodded his head and jumped into the air, ready to zoom after the speedy hedgehog and the two princesses. He turned around.

"I didn't get your name." He said, wanting to thank this echidna girl for helping him.

"It's Shade the Echidna. Now get going!" She said, pointing in that the direction Sonic ran in 10 minutes ago.

The hedgehog nodded, charged up his speed and went as fast as he could through Soleanna.

_'Hang on, Blaze. I'm coming for you.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading this and remember to comment. It really helps me a ton.<br>**  
><strong>Property to Astral-Blaze. Please, do not copy without permission.<strong>

_Trivia Time!_

_Phew. This was one fun chapter to write. I really like Professor Pickles. I don't know why, but I do. And I named his assistant Travis because I think it was very suiting. And you may say Travis and Elise are alike Silver and Blaze at the romantic part. I just saw a picture by Cylent-Night on DA and thoguht they were a cute couple. ^^_

_It has been a while since we really got to see Blaze again. When was the last time? Chapter 3. And as you can see, the event that happened in chapter 4 and 5 occurred over 18 hours or so. But it's how it is. The same thing with Silver. But he, as you guys know, had to borrow G.U.N's autopilot airplane to get to Spagonia. _

_Man, I was so much looking forward to this chapter! Besides chapter 8, then I really loved writing this chapter. It was very good and I think I caught the emotions and the characters very well. But chapter 8 is just a little bit better. Want to know what it is about? You will have to wait and see. I have to edit chapter 7 a lot. It's so darn cheesy. It was even worse than some of my first chapters! ._

_But anyway. Exciting things are getting, eh? I really love how Nega enters the ceremony and destroys everything, like Eggman did in 06. Yeah, there will be some, many, references to Sonic Next-Gen. I personally liked the game. I admit, it gets frustrating at some levels, but come on people. Aren't you overreacting just a little bit on the game? But even though I will have a lot of similarities to the game, then there will also be a lot of differences. What it is? Stay tune for next time!_

_Oh yeah! One more thing. Or, actually two. Sorry, I made it in Blaze's perspective in the beginning and then changing it to third person afterwards. I will edit that to third person as well later. Not now though. I am too tired to do it. Second is that I had a lot of music entering this chapter. I put hyperlinks in this chapter, as well as in chapter 1, 2 and 4, but fanfiction dot net doesn't allow you to put that in. If you want to read while listening to the music, then you have to go to my deviantART page. My username is the same as here. Astral-Blaze. _

_Katerina Oestergaard_


	7. Reunion

**Elemental Flames **

_Chapter 7 - Reunion_

* * *

><p>There was fire in the gaze. The burning light of those amber eyes called to him, teased him at the power trapped inside the delicate feline. She couldn't wield such power; the burning orbs seemed to say as if she could scarcely keep the divine power from blazing out of her. For a few seconds, Nega allowed himself the indulgence of gazing at those brilliant orbs before he returned his attention to the scene before him. Swiftly he rose higher, to keep himself safe from the heroes' assault, and surveyed the situation. The captive Elise struggled but she could do little as Nega pulled her closer and carelessly removed the blue Chaos Emerald from her possession.<p>

"I'm afraid you've served your purpose." Nega's voice was void of emotion as he let the princess drop from the airship to the gasps of horrified onlookers. Below a faint cry of "Elise!" could be heard as a streak of blue shot towards the falling girl. Nega turned his gaze down to the vessel for the Flames of Disaster, pointing his finger after her as he continued to speak loudly. "Robots, take care of that pesky cat and meddling hedgehog," he laughed wildly, "but make sure you bring Princess Blaze to me. Alive."

The lilac cat spun gracefully on her toes to meet the first of the advancing robots with a fireball that melted the machines' innards, exposing a cluster of short, sparking wires. As the robot folded and fell, Blaze raised her iridescent iris to look at Nega. The look burned with defiance. Blaze absently allowed her eyes to find the edge of the battlefield where Sonic stood with Elise in his arms. The hedgehog's eyes were clouded with indecision and darted between the safety of the dark night and Blaze herself. Absently the fiery princess waved him away. Sonic hesitated a second longer before running into the night to take Elise to safety. Blaze regarded her opponents as the anger she felt towards Nega began to burn and build in her chest.

Throwing herself wildly amongst the group of robots, Blaze unleashed a fiery tornado that seared circuitry, burn out sensors and launched her metallic foes, metal coating melting away, into the surrounding water where they short circuited. Each time the cat lost high she was pivot off a robot to perform an elegant somersault that gave her the height advantage to unleash a new wave of fiery destruction. The tips of her heels left dents where she landed and her swift spins and strikes prevented most of the robots from locking on to her. A lucky blow one robot managed to land on her back was quickly countered with a jet of flame the served communications between the robot's torso and legs and a brisk kick sent it staggering backwards in a wild bid to stay upright. The burning forms of the robotic shells were beacons in the night that allowed the feline to spot the outlines of her would be captors. They were easy prey to her fire. Blaze's sharp ears were distantly aware of the rushing wind in the distance Sonic dealt with his own set of opponents. The faint clatter of falling metal assured her of his success.

From his seat above Nega laughed in delight. The loss of his creations was nothing compared to the beauty of the display he was witnessing. So much power, utterly annihilating anything in its way, and in such a small form. Shivers went down Nega's spine as he imagined that force unleashed, the Flames of Disaster forging the world to his liking. Distantly he became aware of the fall of his final robot and the burning eyes of the fiery princess upon him.

"You think you've won?" The doctor laughed manically. "I'm just getting started."

Nega quickly pressed a button that released a second group of robots. Blaze's eyes narrowed in irritation but she shot forth a burst of flame that caught the leading robots. Before the embers of the first attack faded, a twisting pyre of flames weaved its way toward the mechanical army, the searing princess at its heart. The world became a blaze of orange for the feline although she was dimly aware of the crackling fire and the sound of metal tearing itself free from bolts. A sharp blow struck the cat in the middle of her storm and sent the delicate, lithe female flying in the direction of the water. As she hit the ground Blaze felt her coat of flames desert her. Amber eyes were moist with the stinging tears of pain that she refused to shed and Blaze found herself gazing up at a giant hulk of a robot. Nega just wouldn't give up. The cat felt her fur bristle; she wouldn't allow the flames of disaster to fall into the wrong hands. Her anger fuelled the flames within her and Blaze charged. Surprised the robot failed to react as the princess leapt upon its arm where she became a burning drill that pierced the red and black metal exposing the wires beneath. Before she could sever the power the robot responded shaking violently to dislodge its passenger. Blaze landed on her feet and leapt again. She reached the robot's wrist joint and kicked fiercely to bend and dent the metal hulk. The second arm swung at her and Blaze was forced to throw herself off her quarry to avoid the blow. The two arms pivoted in her direction and the silver plated discs receded to expose the black cavernous pits behind. Just as she was observing the unusually wide barrel of its arms it launched the first round of missiles. Heat seeking missiles.

Without a moment to waste, the cat flipped and righted herself before racing towards the nearest building. With all the swiftness her athletic skills could offer the princess began to scale the building, leaping from window to window as the weapons chased her down. Absently, Blaze allowed herself to glance down despite her crippling fear of heights. She was a good distance above the city. Resolved, Blaze shot a jet of flame into the empty air beside her and watched as a dozen missiles curved and collided in a blinding, burning blast.

Her relief was short lived as her ears picked up the rush of wind that accompanied the release of a second wave. Steeling her nerves the fiery princess launched herself across to the next building, grateful for the crowned nature of the city. Blaze continued to jump from building to building leaping again as soon as she heard the click of her heel on the brickwork. To avoid the coming missiles causing damage she was forced to leap into the open space leaving a ring of fire in her wake while she fell a few stories and was forced to renew her climb. The one-sided battle left the feline twisting and pivoting, spiralling like a leaf caught in the wind. Every attempt she made to near the robot was foiled by the onslaught of projectiles which forced her back. At each new round the princess felt herself tiring and soon it was all she could do to direct the explosives away. Now on the city streets each impact caused a rain of dust and rubble that did little to help Blaze's white tinted vision. In the mist of dust and brick one of the missiles found its mark. The cat was flung back. Her body slammed against a city wall which crumbled around her. The harsh blow caused the white spots on front of Blaze's eyes to expand into a veil of fog. Dimly Blaze picked up the shattered parts of the smaller robots flying through the air. A blue streak appeared atop one of the missiles and with a single, calm movement severed it in half before leaping to the next one. The streak was Sonic. The towering robot launched another attack and its armoured arms now swung at the hedgehog to deflect any attempts at approach. Absently, through her fading consciousness, Blaze realised that even the great Sonic the Hedgehog couldn't defeat this enemy alone.

It was with a determined fierceness that the hedgehog shot through the hull of the small robot. The sea of glowing red optics reminded him of the pointlessness of his task but he refused to back down. Guiltily the emerald eyes darted to the fallen form of his ally, the red dress she had worn for the occasion lay crumpled around her slight frame and her eyes were closed. As he thought about the pain Nega had caused the feline princess, Sonic felt his hands forming fists. Blaze was in a constant battle for consciousness and every moment she was unable to see her enemies left her vulnerable. Sonic used that anger as he charged towards the largest robot, his speed easily allowing him to cut through the barrage of missiles it fired. It was stronger than the hoard that surrounded it but the high speed assault forced the metal in on itself. Anxiously, Sonic's eyes darted back to Blaze the robots were advancing again. Sonic shot a regretful look his large black and red opponent but rocketed to save Blaze without hesitation. The arrow of blue light cut a clean path through the spearhead of the mechanical drones. Sonic stood before Blaze with his arms outstretched, a feeble shield of flesh against the cold, steel army. The hedgehog fought the urge to double over in exhaustion, his limbs burnt from the strain of running and slamming into metal shells. His rasping breaths were met by a dull groan from Blaze. Amber eyes flickered open and Sonic saw his own despair reflected back at him before the darkness claimed Blaze once more. They had failed. In a last act of heroism Sonic moved to shield Blaze from the robots' sight and stared defiantly into the cold optics of the leader as the horde advanced on the exhausted and wounded pair. The distance was closing. The metallic whirl of gears sounded like an orchestra of destruction. Suddenly the robots froze. Sonic scowled, wasn't it enough that Nega had won? The mad doctor was mocking their efforts with this delay, a display of power over the vanquished. A teal glow lit the robots shiny metallic hulls. Sonic blinked at the familiar light. That was when the first robot smashed into the wall.

For a moment it was all Sonic could do to stare at the empty space where the lead robot had stood. From above Nega was also silent, an unreadable expression on his face. Blaze let out a desperate gasp, a choking breath that could have been a sob despite her lack of awareness. The teal light grew brighter, it seared into the eyes of fighters. As Sonic turned away he saw a figure in the distance.

"Psychic Blast!"

No sooner had the order been given than a wave of teal energy radiated from the figure. The silhouette was swallowed up by the light as the flood of energy rose. It arced across the streets like a blade, lifting the robots from the ground before brutally hurling them into the brickwork. The walls cracked from the impact. Missiles which had been launched at the new arrival were sent barrelling back towards the robot that sent them. The first tore through the metal hide of one of the launcher's arms, the criss-cross of wires lay exposed. The second ripped through the robot's chest. The third destroyed it entirely.

Above Nega trembled with fury, His face turning all red in aggression.

"You! You've ruined everything you wretched hedgehog!" The doctor laughed. "It isn't over Silver! Don't think you've won! I'll be back before you can prepare whatever pathetic defences you may have." Nega continued to hurl insults at his foe as he rose higher and fled the battle scene.

Green and gold eyes watched the retreating frame. Sonic grinned and waved as the five upturned quills of his ally bounced as the time traveller jogged towards him.

"Nice timing Silver."

The psychic shifted awkwardly. "It was nothing."

As the two hedgehogs surveyed the damaged street and collapsing buildings, Sonic glanced at the time traveller with an amused expression showing up in his face.

"That was some attack."

The younger hedgehog blushed slightly while scratching his neck.

"Thanks. It's a variant on Shadow's Chaos Blast."

Sonic gave an appreciative whistle before a more serious expression crossed his muzzle.

"So feel like explaining any of this?"

With a brief nod Silver frowned. "Nega wants to release the Flames of Disaster. To do that he needs their current host…"

The sound of movement and moaning behind them caused Silver to fall silent. The pair turned to find Blaze struggling to rise on her hands. As Blaze completed the movement, gold and amber eyes met and the princess gave a breathless gasp.

"S-S-Silver?"

Gazing on the beauty, Silver was stunned about how much different she looked, and was in total awe of her appearance that his mouth kept dropping, watching the princess rather quickly, but painfully, struggling to her feet. She used the wall for support while holding on to her injured arm, feeling the tears emerge as she stared at her lost best friend with her heart pumping faster and faster as she kept sharing some moments with him.

Hesitantly, and shyly, Silver waved while greeting her with a simple "Hi", blushing at how beautiful she looked although her dress was torn. In his eyes, she was more beautiful than any sunrises or sunsets, her eyes were like millions of stars glittering on the dark night sky as it was tonight. Her feisty personality mixed with pure kindness was a combination Silver was very attracted to and in his eyes, Blaze was a goddess. She was perfect.

Realising that there was no doubt about who he was and that he was no hallucination, Blaze took a few steps closer, while still holding around her arm, towards Silver as the albino hedgehog did the same, both staring in shock and disbelief into the other's pair of golden eyes.

Both hedgehogs jumped back in surprise when the feline gave into the pain, screaming as she held to her side where she was bleeding heavily because of the open wound on her waist. Clenching her eyes shut, the feline collapsed to her knees, hissing and slight crying from the horrible pain which cause from the battle before.

The ivory hedgehog widened his eyes as he saw the blood that streamed rapidly out from her waistline, her lilac hand had turned red. Quickly, he was down on his knees, and placed his hand on her shoulder, wiping the tears away with the other.

"Blaze." He whispered as he turned her head up, his finger under her chin.

Slight struggling to get her eyes open, Blaze felt tears of happiness, relief, love, disbelief, escape her as she kept staring up at the man she loved, longing after feeling him embracing her in his strong arms. She shifted slightly closer though the males protested, wrapped her one arm around the boy's neck and start crying into his shoulder. She was whimpering his name, ignoring the pain for a minute, holding tightly to him and tried catching her breath.

Silver was left stunned from her move, feeling a small blush creeping onto his muzzles. Confused on what to do, he looked over at the azure hedgehog's smiling face with one eye closed as a wink while giving him a thumb up.

The ivory's eyes went a bit bigger as he saw that this was no hallucination, no dream. Everything was just as real as oxygen. Looking down on the crying beautiful feline princess, the commoner felt a tear shattered from his eye before the next came. Closing his eyes, he wrapped his arms around her, feeling her soft and smooth body against his own with his head placed on her shoulder as well. He sighed deeply.

"You... You're okay. Oh Blaze." He whispered sincerely in disbelief yet there was some hidden love and relief in his voice. After three years of no knowledge of where she was or how she was doing, he finally had the love of hid life in his arms.

Tilting her head slightly, Blaze let her head lean against the male silver hedgehog, feeling him holding protective to her, embracing her with all his kind emotions. A smile cracked along her lips as she wrapped her other arm around him, her hand being filled with blood. A smile found its way to Silver's lips too as a few small tears managed to get through the closed eyelids of his, tightening his grip around the beauty he held.

A painful cry made Silver release his grip around the princess immediately, watching her release her own grip around him and bent over her body and her head being in his fur. Her hands were at the the bleeding cut on her waist.

Seeing the heavily bleeding wound in her side, realising it was even worse than he first thought, Silver's eyes widened in shock and great concern. He held Blaze tightly around her shoulder and body, pulling her into his white fur where she felt warm and comfy, before moving his hands under her legs. Once placed against the wall, the hedgehog looked up on Sonic, seeing he was kneeling down in front of the pair, shocked about how much pain Blaze actually was in.

"Sonic, stop looking so shocked! She's hurt, badly! We need to close her wound and fast!" Silver said in slight panic, snapping his friend back to reality while keeping a good hold around the princess he deeply cared for.

A small blush appeared on the royal's white muzzles, feeling her heart going crazy and opened her eyes, seeing the male hedgehog being only centimeters away. He had turned up on Sonic, but she had her gaze on him.

Still holding to her bleeding cut, her hands became all red from the streaming blood. Tears still streamed from her eyes as she slightly winched in pain. In seek of comfort, Blaze leaned closer to the male and placed her head on his shoulder. It confused Silver when he felt her lying on him, but the painful expression showed him that she didn't do on purpose.

Sonic looked confused on Silver though he knew he was right.

"No shit, Sherlock. But I am no medical expect. Do you know how to treat such a deep cut?" He said and lifted Blaze's blood filled hand, pointing at the rather deep slim cut that went up her waist before carefully putting it back down while the princess was hissing in pain the whole time.

The white male bit his lower lip in his tension, seeing that the cut was very deep and long, perhaps deeper than he had expected. Nevertheless, he needed to do something; he had to take care of the injured Blaze.

"I... I'm not entirely sure but it shouldn't be that difficult. What I have learned at school, is that we need..."

"School? You go to... school?" She said in confusion, pulling slightly back from the lover.

Hearing that smooth sweet voice, completely melted Silver's heart, he felt a small pink shade crawling to his muzzles. Feeling a hand against him, he looked down and saw a slightly red hand that belonged to the one girl he deeply loved. He switched his gaze from the hand to her gorgeous face. Her amber eyes bored into him and he blushed slightly worse as he stared at the hurt Blaze, having her one hand against his chest and the other pushed down in her cut while looking slightly surprised into his wonderful golden naive eyes.

The situation was rather awkward for the pair yet for Sonic, who they had completely forgotten was there in that moment, saw that there was a certain connection between them. Something that made him smile and try to crawl his way away from them but then he remembered that Blaze was badly injured and it would be stupid of him to leave, in case something would happened. If more robots would suddenly appear then the fight would be over right away.

Looking into those beautiful eyes of hers, Silver realised that he was literately staring at her and quickly blinked his eyes a few times and shook his head. A blush reappeared upon his muzzles and he scratched his neck in embarrassment while giving a nervous goofy smile at Blaze. That smile though was very cute for her and she let a sigh out in amazement.

"Ehe. Y-Yeah, I go to school. High School. I need to. I-I can't just... you know, fight Nega all the time. Besides, i-it's good to have an education behind you in case my career as hero... uhm... ends. That's my guess at least." He said nervously, joking a bit with himself. Blaze smiled sweetly at him, almost loving, before placing her head against him again, nuzzling her head in his shoulder, causing the hedgehog to blush.

"Of course, it's a good thing, Silver. Education is very important. Without one you won't get a job and being a hero is not something you will be able to do all your life. I think it's very wise of you to go in High School." She said with her eyes half closed, lying in an almost sleeping position against her lover.

Silver's muzzles darkened but he smiled sweetly at the cute and beautiful cat he held.

Someone cleared his throat slightly, causing both hedgehog and cat to look over at the smiling cobalt crossed armed hedgehog, sitting with crossed legs and a chuckle escaped him as he saw their blushing faces. Blaze pulled away and so did Silver, the girl having wrapped her other arm around her chest, and the male rubbing his arm.

"Well, what a reunion, huh? You guys really are close." He said, and uncrossed his arms, smiling in the slight teasing manner.

The two mobians, hesitatingly, turned their attention back to each other, captured in a moment again. Blaze looked slightly down before closing her eyes, placed herself in the silver male's fur, hugging him with her arms wrapped around his back quills, a few tears escaping her eyes. Silver did the same with the feline, hugged her close and placed his chin against her head, nodding his head in confirm.

He clasped his hands down on his knees before standing. "Well, I think I will go and just..."

Sonic was interrupted by another lower shout from Blaze as she released her grip around the man she loved, taking both her hands to her side, pressing the blood back down as she lay almost limb in Silver's arms. Her eyes were closed and she lied in pain in the hedgehog's embrace, though the grip had released and Silver was now stroking her back.

"No, I need your help." The white one said in slight melancholy, staring with great concern and in slight misery at the pained lilac princess in his arms.

Sonic, who had stopped in his process of leaving after Blaze's painful cry, stared in confusion at the other hedgehog, scratching the back of his ear.

"Help?" He asked. Silver nodded his head while staring into the emerald green eyes of the fastest thing alive. "Well, what do I need to help you with?"

Silver sighed as he shuffled closer to the girl, her head being in his fur the whole time.

"I need you to get a buckle of hot and cold water." He started and Sonic said loudly to himself of what Silver needed. He continued. "Two cloths, tape, scissor and bandage." Sonic nodded but before he speeded off, Silver remembered one last thing he needed to take care of the princess' horrible wound. "Oh, and I need a small bottle of alcohol to clean her wound!"

Both blue hedgehog and purple cat stared wide-eyed at white silvery hedgehog as if he was crazy. What the heck would alcohol help on a wound? Though, Blaze already knew the answer but she was definitely not happy about the idea.

Silver told the speedy hedgehog that alcohol was very good at cleaning cuts and wounds though it felt like it was burning your flesh whenever it came in contact with the blood and bacteria inside one.

Nodding his head, he set off in a sprint with Blaze shouting after him that he needed to be careful of his own injuries. Shouting back that one bullet wasn't going to make him stop running, the female rolled her eyes and frowned, still being held by her secret love.

Confusion hit Silver but he decided that whatever thing might have happened it wasn't his business.

A few seconds went by with them being in their position. Blaze was biting her lower lip in nervousness, enjoying Silver holding onto her but she wanted to hear his sweet naive voice. She had really missed hearing him speak just to her. Only her.

Inhaling deeply and looking up to his handsome face that made her blush, Blaze decided to break the irritating and awkward silence that had lasted for some time.

"H... H-Hi, S-Silver."

Glaring downwards, he saw Blaze's embarrassed expression, looking down and blushing in nervousness, having her hand stroking up and down on her far shoulder.

Seeing her being insecure and embarrassed made Silver smile and slowly, but softly sincerely, he was brushing her hair away from her eyes, causing her to look up with slight upon mouth, disbelief filling her eyes and mind.

"Hi, Blaze." He whispered, smiling lovingly at her which was making her heart jump and pump like crazy, sighing out with amazement. Moving her hand she stroke her arm with, she placed it on his cheek and begin stroking it, causing him to flush slightly while she smiled. He laughed awkwardly in nervousness before continuing. "F-Funny meeting you here. I never expected it like this."

"What do you mean? I am here every year." She answered, keeping her gaze up on his handsome white and cute face which made her feel home and safe. A place for her to be herself.

"Y-Yeah. I figured that out like... 26 hours ago or something." He said and shifted a bit awkwardly.

A smile appeared on her lips, immediately increasing to a smile only he deserved to see. A small giggle escaped the princess which made Silver's heart pump faster and melt more than his earlier girlfriend made it melt.

"You are still so naive as I remembered you."

This statement made him smile and flush a visible pink on his muzzles though a thought hit him when she told this.

"But you said you liked that... right?" He asked slightly nervous about what she would answer.

Her eyes widened in surprise and her white muzzles turned to a sudden pink colour and she glared her eyes away from him. She cleared her throat and returned her posture. "Yes, I did say that and I will not take back what I said. Honestly, Silver. Your naivety makes you special." She said sincerely in her calm and mostly professional princess manner. Silver looked at her, a blush and goofy smile appearing on his face.

"Really?"

The princess nodded her head while smiling, making her own heart and Silver's pump faster in joy. He hugged her and thanked her for the compliment. Before Blaze could welcome him, however, a sharp spike of pain hit her in the side and her eyes widened for a split second before being shut closed and she let a small shout out. She quickly took to her waistline, a tear falling from her eye. She reopened both of them as she felt the hedgehog's hand caring her cheek in a sweet sincerely manner which made her heart skip a beat.

"Does it really hurt?" He questioned as his head was closer to her than before which made her eyes slightly widen but turned back to normal. She was honestly blushing at how close he was, but nodded her head as her eyes was fixed on his slightly open lips. A pair of lips she wanted to near and close the gap with her own. She shook her head

Surprisingly though, Silver let go of her. Afterwards, Silver crossed his arms to his shirt's button and pulled it over his head.

Her eyes widened at the sight of his move, a strong blush appearing on her face. Time was slowing down as she saw him pulling his teal chequered t-shirt off, the world lightening up with romantic colours like a sweet pink. Studying his face, it looked to her as if he was trying to seduce her, looking sweet and romantic with his eyes boring into her own. Seeing his body was making her deeply flush. Silver had definitely changed more than she had, both physically and mentally. More the first one. His body had turned from being a small weak body as the looks to have muscles visible around him and a slight six pack was appearing at his stomach.

Blaze's breath became faster, her heart beating a million times pr minute, her muzzles heating up as well as her entire own body with her eyes still being big and locked onto the hedgehog. She curled into a ball and pressed herself further against the wall.

_'Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! H-He looks so... so... so... s-s-s-sex-x-y! S-So hot. No! No, no, no. Don't think like that, Blaze. Don't think... like... But he looks so good. I... I-I want to see more. No! Stop it, Blaze!'_ Her mind was playing tricks on her, she knew it. But the sight of Silver flashing before her made her dizzy._ 'Oh. He is just so handsome and sexy. I... Why am I feeling dazed so much? Silver. You... I... I don't want to admit it, but you really make me feel so vulnerable. No, stop it!'_

Silver was confused on what was going on with the lavender princess. She looked a lot changed both on her appearance and personality but he didn't think her behaviour had changed that much. Her face had turned all red and her in- and exhaling had become fast. Her eyes was big and she kept her gaze up on him and his exposed upper body, taking in the handsome view.

He blushed lightly, scratching his back ear in confusion before taking his hand to her shoulder, shaking her a bit. "Blaze? What's wrong? A-Are you okay?" He asked, shaking her gently but nothing really came from the feline. Her breathing was still the same as was her look. Silver sweat dropped and shook her a bit more, snapping his fingers in front of the gorgeous girl. "Hey, Blaze. Wake up."

Suddenly, everything from her fantasy disappeared and she saw Silver's worried look as he stared at her, shaking her for her to snap back to reality. She blinked her eyes a few times, shook her head and stared wide-eyed at Silver, blushing like a maniac and turned away. She pressed her red hands against her face, hiding her embarrassment.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, Silver! I-I-I don't know what came over me! Please, forgive me! I-I don't what happened! I-"

"Hey, hey, hey." He said and took her hands away from her face, revealing the beauty that could had made Silver hesitate, which he actually did. His voice turned to calm and reassuring, nearing her a bit. "Take it easy. It's okay. It's okay. I am not mad or anything. Just worried."

Her face was still red in embarrassment, having her eyes slightly closed with guilt filling them. She turned downwards where she saw that great body of his, biting her lips before turning away with closed eyes. They soon reopened, however.

"I am so sorry. I just think I... spaced out a bit." She said rather lowly with Silver still holding around her wrists. He shifted closer to her, placed his hand on her far shoulder. She turned her heard towards him, a caring smile showing up on his face.

"It's okay, Blaze. It happens to everybody." His smile vanished, confusion was easily read over his face expression. "But what did you space out on? Why?"

The feline bit her lips again, pondering about what to answer. She couldn't lie to him, that would be wrong and unacceptable. She decided to tell the truth to him on why she spaced and what she was thinking on in that short amount of time.

"I... I was spacing out on you, Silver." She whispered in embarrassment, looking away and expecting his answer.

Silver blinked his eyes a few times, his confusion rising at her state and he scratched his back ear.

"Uh, okay. But why?" He asked, having his hand out before it plumped down to her bended leg.

Blaze blushed even more, taking her hands to her face again which the male gently pulled away, seeing her still being all red in embarrassment.

"Because you... you... Argh! Because you took your shirt off!" She shouted and hid her face again as it was turning a bright red colour, looking away from Silver's surprised expression. "You look great! You look very, very great, Silver!"

Slightly, she moved one finger away from her eye, seeing that the commoner hedgehog had turned red himself, staring wide-eyed at the royal princess he sat beside, his heart beating faster. "Uhh... Bhaaaa... I uhhh... T-T-Thanks, B-Blaze." He was totally stunned about her statement that he completely forgot why he took his shirt off from the beginning. Blaze turned around, hiding her face, but this caused her to lean too much to one side that she fell right on her wounded side and scream once more, holding to her cut once again.

Shocked about her sudden scream, Silver hurried down on his knees, gently and very carefully, turning Blaze to the other side, lying on her back. He leaned in over her, seeing that the wound was getting worse.

"Blaze..." He said and gulped a bit in nervousness, looking into the girl's watery eyes. "I... I have to... lift your dress slightly to get to your cut a bit better and cover it." He blushed a bit and so did Blaze herself. She quickly pulled herself up and against the wall again though the speed made it feel like her cut was stretching. "Is that okay?"

What a stupid question. He said he had to and then he asked for permission. But then again, Silver don't do things that can be awkward without people giving him permission to do it.

Blaze's eyes widened in shock and her heart began pumping like crazy. Hesitantly she nodded her head before Silver began slowly pulling her dress up. Luckily, her wound was on the side of the long cut or else this would have been very awkward and look wrong for other people.

A small groan escaped her as she felt Silver's hand slightly stroking her leg and both blushed as the male saw her undies. Silver shook his head quickly and continued to pull her dress away so that he wouldn't get the wrong thoughts. The pain came to Blaze when he reached the bloody part of her magenta dress. Apparently the dress was sticking very much to the cut because of the blood and the princess sat a bit up, hissing and whimpering in pain. Small shouts escaped her whenever Silver pulled the dress away from the wound. By the looks of it, lots of bacteria was already inside it so cleaning it would be very, very painful for her. But getting the dress apart from the wound was a success. Silver's eyes narrowed, almost feeling the pain the fiery princess was in. As soon as the cut was revealed, Silver took his shirt and pushed it down in her wound, stopping the bleeding and preventing any more bacteria getting in.

Blaze was hissing as he did this, realising the whole flashing thing he did. She was pulled closer to him again, having an arm wrapped around his neck while the other was moving down to the covered wound. Her head was in his fluffy big and visible fur once again.

Their hands met and both blushed badly at that. None moved, just taking in what was happening. Slowly, the princess wrapped her fingers around his hand, tightening the grip slightly. The hedgehog liked this thing and, without knowing it, he turned his hand around, now holding hands with the one girl he was deeply in love with.

Blaze's muzzles darkened a bit though she decided to ignore this. Holding hands with Silver was something she wanted to try. A thought hit her.

"So, how is going with you and your girlfriend?"

In reality, she didn't want to talk about stuff like this; her curiosity was getting the better of her and she needed to know if Sonic was right about Silver being single. She didn't know why it was so important to her, it just was.

He didn't expect this question but took it as if his own friends in the future asked him.

"Well, we're not exactly together anymore but we are doing okay. Wait. How did you know that _I_ had a girlfriend?" He asked in confusion, realising what her question in reality was. He had never said anything to anybody of his friends in the past about him being in a relationship, but only told he was single to Sonic two-three months ago.

Blaze was certainly not expecting this answer but hoped it and smiled, though once he asked about how she knew it, she became slightly red and, against her will, she released her hand in Silver's and tucked it down in her pocket.

"Uhm. Through this." She said and pulled that future looking bracelet out of her pocket, letting it hang in front of the hedgehog. "Does it looks familiar to you?"

His eyes widened and he took it gently out of her hand, looking at it from different angles. "Yes, it's mine." After examine it a bit, he looked up. "How the heck did you get this?" He asked surprised, staring into the beautiful amber eyes of hers.

"Sonic gave me it yesterday. He said he "borrowed it" from you once he was in your time. The future."

His eyes widened again, his hand turning into fist.

"Once I get my hands on him, I will..."

"Silver, don't. Please." Blaze begged, holding onto his very exposed big fluffy fur. "He wasn't aware of what was in it. Besides, you are not that bad."

Silver relaxed when he saw her begging and sighed out. But the question she asked confused him. He was about to ask what she meant when it suddenly hit him.

"No. Oh, don't say you saw that." His ears lowered and his face turned a sweet light pink colour that made the princess giggle.

"What's wrong, Silver? It's nothing to be ashamed of. You sing good actually." She said while slight laughing, sitting on the hedgehog's lap with her hand being around his far shoulder and the other placed against his chest where she found his heartbeat.

Silver looked up with the embarrassed look clearly visible in his face. His ears pointed slightly downwards with his face being red. He turned away.

"No, I don't." He muttered, still holding onto Blaze though he shifted nervously. She placed herself against him, slight playing with his fur and turned his face.

"Silver. Yes you do. Listen. You're not the only who can sing. I do myself." She said and pointed at herself when she reached her sentence end. The hedgehog smiled, a thought hitting him though Blaze already knew what he was going to ask and came ahead of him. "No, I am not going to sing right now. It's embarrassing enough that Sonic, Amy, Tikal, Marine, Charmy and Elise already have heard me sing."

She released her grip around him, looking slightly embarrassed and pulled Silver's now blood filled shirt back up to cover her wound. She could feel his eyes boring onto her; he wanted to her voice. He wanted to hear her sing. She turned around, her eyes widened when she saw the puppy eyes. If she had known Silver was better than Marine, she would have seen this coming. She groaned and her eras lowered. She sighed out before looking at the asphalt.

"In the nightlight do you see what you dream..." She skimmed her eyes over to Silver, his expression turning into confusion and a small blush appeared. "All your troubles are they all what they seem? Look around you then you may realise, all the preachers, all with their lies. And I might know of our future..."

Suddenly, the hedgehog decided to join and shuffled closer. "But then you still control the past."

They stared into each other's eyes, singing together. _"Only you know if we'll be together, only you know if shall last..."_ They neared each other, but the feline hesitated and instead of nearing her face to his, she looked down and placed it in to his fur.

"Your song is so beautiful, Silver. I..." She giggled and pulled back. "I can't get it off my mind."

He gave a small chuckle before shuffling closer to Blaze, his face showing so much care and love. He stroked her cheek. "Not as beautiful as your voice." Her eyes widened and she blushed stronger. He then realized what he said and pulled his hand back. "I mean... Your singing voice so beautiful because... y-you sing so well."

She bit her lips, looked down before giggling slightly. "I know what you meant, silly. It's just..." She looked up, her cheeks a soft pink but she was so loving now. "It came out in such a loving tone." She looked away.

The hedgehog scratched his neck in embarrassment, releasing a nervous laughter. "Sorry." He said. A long pause was between them, awkward indeed. He sighed out. "I thought of you a lot when I wrote that song." She turned her attention back to him, seeing that he was sad. "Everything just turned into a mess when you left. And it pained me so much. I wish you were there when you practically saved my world."

He felt a hand and glimpsed at the girl beside him. "If I never did anything, Iblis would never stop rampaging the world. And your dream of absolution would never had been brought to reality."

Something was on his mind. She was right but wrong at the same time. At that time, he wanted Iblis to disappear, that was his dream that everything would be amazing one day with no fear of living. But a world without her was like a planet without a sun. It looses all it's happiness and joy... and charm.

"It's the same without you being part of that dream." He whispered and pushed his knees against his exposed chest. "Everything just fell apart when you left." A small tear escaped him but he quickly dried it off in his pants.

Blaze was sad, and in an attempt to comfort her best friend, she leaned forwards and hugged him. "I know you missed me. But I am sorry that I wasn't able to remain with you."

Silver bit his lips together, tears breaking through his defense of his eyes. He hugged the feline closely to him, sniffling into her shoulder now. "I missed you a lot, Blaze. You and your feisty but caring personality." He said as he held tightly to her.

Smiling lovingly at the commoner hedgehog, Blaze eagerly hugged more with her own eyes closed and snuggled closer to the male.

"I missed you too. Silver. Very much. Especially your naive and caring nature." She said lowly, her heart beating like horses running free.

Speaking of running free. A gust of wind made them slight break apart and in front of them stood Sonic the Hedgehog, one small barrel in each hand with hot and cold water, two towels swung over his shoulders, a small bottle of pure alcohol in his pocket and bandage in the other. He smiled when he saw the cuddling couple but got confused on Silver exposed upper body.

"Uhhh... Am I interrupting anything?" He smirked as he saw their faces turning red and pull away.

"No. No, not at all." Blaze said calmly, smiling innocently at the cobalt hedgehog and Silver clearing his throat. Sonic shrugged, kneeling beside the pair.

"Well, great then. I got the things you needed, Silv. Sorry it took so long though. Some of Nega's mechs are still here." He said and placed the things in front of the white hedgehog and purple cat. He looked up on them, realising why Silver was bare at his upper body but only gave it a thought and not saying anything. "Do you need anything else? Or can I be at any help at all now?"

Looking down on the equipment and then on Blaze, nothing big help hit the future hedgehog though some presence was a help. Sonic shrugged and sat beside. He had nothing else to do than watching as Silver let go of Blaze and took one of the cloths, putting it down in the hot water and wrenched some of the substance out of the cloth. Glaring at the princess, Silver saw some nervousness in her eyes.

"This might hurt a bit, Blaze." He said and pulled her dress up again with a Sonic who blushed at the sight if her underwear though the blood filled t-shirt told him that Silver had covered her wound from preventing any more bacteria to go into it. The cut was even longer than the fastest thing alive had thought. All three pair of eyes were locked on the cut as Silver neared it with the warm wet cloth. A high hiss escaped Blaze as her love began cleaning her wound by getting the worst dirt and blood away.

After dipping the cloth in the hot water a few times and cleaning the wound for the worst, he wrenched the water out.

"Okay. The worst should be gone by now. But we are not done yet." Silver said, slight bitterness in his voice as he looked at Blaze, seeing that she felt tense. "This is going to hurt very much, Blaze. But I will clean your cut as fast as I can."

The princess nodded her head, taking to his fur with her hand and the other being around his shoulder. Slowly and carefully, Silver opened the bottle, the strong pure alcohol making him pull away in slight disgust. Nevertheless, he took the other dry cloth and dripped some drops of the alcohol onto the fabric, making it slightly wet a small spot. Afterwards, he moved it slowly towards the wound, seeing the princess' stomach moving up and down from her faster breaths. She was definitely not happy about this idea. She knew how it feels to get cleaned up by alcohol and now that this cut is even worse than any other injury she has ever had, it's going to be quite a pain.

A painful shirk escaped her as the strong alcohol came in contact with her wound and tears was immediately escaping the princess.

In her struggle against the pain she threw her hand on the silver hedgehog's wrist. The time traveller was so distracted by his efforts to clean Blaze's wound that he failed to notice the warmth traveling up his limb. Blaze's golden eyes widened in pain and her powers flared wildly. Suddenly the scolding heat reached Silver and he cried out in pain, his own eyes a perfect reflection of those belonging to the girl he loved.

"Blaze." He choked out gently as he tried to use his powers to prise his arm from her grip.

In her panic Silver's words fell on deaf ears and Blaze's grip tightened against the hedgehog's efforts to dislodge her.

Silver's tan muzzle paled as he was assaulted by the smell of burning fur and he began to wonder how Blaze hadn't realised what she was doing. Fearfully Silver cast a quick glance at his wrist which revealed blistering red skin, like the trail of lava left by an erupting volcano. When did Blaze get so powerful? The nearby fur that remained was singed brown and flaked away as he struggled to escape the flames. Blaze was staring into the distance utterly unaware of the burning inferno she was unleashing on the man she loved. Silver frowned, the heat was unbearable and beads of sweet cascaded down the white male's quills as he tried once more to get the princess' attention.

"Argh! Ow, Blaze! Ow! Argh! C-Cut it out! You are burning me! Arghhhh!"

The panicked princess didn't seem to react before Silver removed the alcoholic cloth away from her wound and everybody began smelling burning flesh. Blaze's eyes widened in horror. Her gaze went to the wrist she held onto, letting go of Silver immediately and gasping highly as she took to her mouth.

"Oh my gosh! I-I-I am so sorry, Silver! Please, forgive me!"

Sonic took the former warm towel, pushed it down in the ice cold water - which seems to freeze his bones -, took it out and wrapped Silver's wrist in quickly. The silver hedgehog hissed deeply in pain, taking deep inhales and exhaled mixed with a groan. Turning his attention from his wrist to the princess, he saw small tears escape her as her mouth was cupped and she stared at the freshly burned skin, the smell of slight flesh surrounding the trio.

Moving his fresh hand away from around his hand, Silver placed it against her cheek, rubbing the wetness away. She had removed her hands away from her mouth and stared now on the hedgehog she loved.

"It's okay, Blaze. Please don't cry. I will be okay." He said smiling. "I expected it to happened, but not so hot and powerful." He hissed as Sonic tightened the cloth around his wrist and looked up on Blaze with a smile on his lips.

"Silver is right. Don't worry, he'll be okay. And don't cry. Smile." He said and winked afterwards at the purple cat princess. She smiled and felt her heart flutter as the white male continued to rub her cheek, a smile on his lips too as she looked at his handsome face. A small delighted giggle escaped her as she rubbed the remaining tears away, her expression showing pure happiness as she and Silver kept their gaze at each other.

He cleared his throat while blushing a sweet pink. "So are you willing for me to continue this? Without burning me." He said, quickly adding the last part and hissed lowly as he put his wrist down in the ice cold water.

Blaze nodded and looked tense as she inhaled deeply. Once Silver made the small alcoholic cloth get in contact with her wound, Blaze held her scream in and grabbed out for the nearest thing, a hand, whatever, which happened to be Sonic's wrist, squeezing it tightly though it made Sonic complain big time about her strength.

The pain seemed to get Blaze really tense and sore, the tears fighting to escape her eyes but she refuse to let them shed. Her grip around Sonic's wrist tightened, only making him almost slam his other fist down on the asphalt. However, before the fastest thing alive had anything to say again after countless complains, he felt his hand getting some air and the hotness was unbearable for him. He threw it down in the bowel of cold water only to find out that it was burning hot.

The pair saw him slight shouting in pain before throwing his hand down in the other bowel and let a relieved sigh out as he felt his wrist cooling off. The princess giggled and white male was slight laughing before he placed Blaze onto the grey bricked ground. Looking up, he met her sweet smile and wonderful eyes and it made him flush in embarrassment as he gave her goofy smile back.

Shaking his head lightly, he returned to normal and reached out for the bandage. "Now I am going to wrap you in, Blaze. It might be a bit painful but not so much. I mean, not as painful as before and-"

"Just do it, Silver." She giggled as she heard the nervousness in his tone. He flushed deeper but asked her to lift her dress up so that he could bandage her in.

She hissed and groaned at the soreness around her waist, though was very grateful for Silver's aid. It made her heart skip a few beats at times as looked to her side and saw him focused on her wound, his appearance and personality made her smile shyly. As he finished, he placed a small tape piece at the end of the bandage, cut the white fabric over with scissor, making sure that she was wrapped well in around her waist. She smiled at him before picking up the remaining bandage in case she would need it later before gazing up on the hedgehog's handsome face.

Both stared into each other eyes, lost in their fantasy. Giggles from a few girls and two flashes made them snap back to reality. They blushed strongly as they saw their friends several meters away from them and waved while saying hello.

Sonic picked up the bowels after he emptied them from water, cloths, the bottle of alcohol, which he tucked down in his pocket, and ran over to the others. He, along with Amy and Tikal, shooed them away to let Silver and Blaze have some alone time together.

"Hey! Why do we have to go?" Complained Vector as Amy pushed him away, looking irritated at his comment.

"Because Silver and Blaze deserves some alone time." She said persuasive, putting pressure on alone, looking with convincing eyes at the green crocodile. As he looked over at the two mobians who were blushing like crazy and avoiding each other's eyes, a delighted laugh escaped him as he began walking forward in his own pace.

"Haha. Of course. I knew that. You two just spend all the time ya want. We ain't gonna disturb ya time." He said loudly as he waved at them. Their faces turned bright red and their bodies seemed to get tense.

"I-I-It's not like that! W-We are just… f-f-friends!" They said in unison, glaring at each other's scarlet red faces before looking away from the other. Vector laughed as he heard that, hearing that they were hiding their feelings for each other.

"Yeah, suuure." Marine and Charmy teased before the bee managed to get a picture of them close up, making Silver a bit startled and rubbing his eyes at sudden action. The feline cat beside him tried to reach out for the bee but with her injuries, she collapsed to ground, still holding around her bandaged wound and groaned. Seeing her collapse made Silver get down to her level again, wrapping her arm around his shoulder as he gently pulled her up.

For the others that were leaving, a smile found its way to their lips as they saw that hidden love in the hedgehog's and cat's eyes. As the last to leave the couple alone in the plaza, Sonic and Amy winked at them before reaching out for each other's hand, walking away to let the pair have some privacy.

Once they were gone, Silver and Blaze turned their attention back to each other, gazing at the other's appearance and admiring it. A big smile appeared on both lips and before they knew it, they were embracing each other warmly with eyes closed.

* * *

><p><em>Katerina Talks!<em>

_God dammit! I am so sorry for the freaking long wait! I wanted to rewrite this chapter at some points but was never in the mood to do so. I am sorry. Forgive me. ;^; But at least I have it, right? It was just so crappy and awkward before, that I didn't wanted to show it to you guys. It was so embarrassing. But this reunion is awkward so I guess it's fair. ^^_

_Anyways. I like to mess with my favourite Sonic characters. Especially Blaze. It was so funny and we all know that Blaze liked seeing Silver's exposed handsome body. :D And Silver is so... awkward and silly. I know, I know. I shouldn't have made them sing. But it sounded so good in my head that I had to do it. _

_I thank shadowstartigs, from dA, for writing the battle scene in the beginning. You guys will see much more of her amazing writing of battle scenes in the future and there will be lots of them. ^^_

_Katerina Oestergaard_


	8. Separated Once More

**Elemental Flames **

_Chapter 8 - Separated Once More_

* * *

><p>Laughter was heard at the edge of Soleanna, far-removed from the disaster that had struck the middle and centred part of the City of Water. Down on the fine road, not even 100 meters away from the previous battle area, two mobians were enjoying each other's company, laughing as the male told the princess a short story on how he managed to escape all the fan girls back at the future.<p>

Even though Blaze did feel her heart arch a few times at the fact that her friend was praised by all and that he had so many admires, she still felt more complete whenever the hedgehog was around her. He had even used his special bracelet to make her dress again! Her thoughts was that his friend had a very high IQ since there isn't any other similar bracelet that can both work as a phone, through time as well, and be able to fix something that has been broken. As long as it was fabric, that is.

"And once I saw that they were out of sight, I returned to the school but on my way, they found me again and then I was lying down on the asphalt with the girls all kissing and hugging me, some ripping my shirt and jeans off! I barely got out of there alive!" He said as he walked back and forward with Blaze sitting on a bench and recovering, giggling. Her laugh made his heart melt and he felt a warm blush crawling to his muzzles. He gazed away from her as he scratched his neck. "Worse was that the principal got a bit mad at me when I managed to fly home instead of back to the school."

Seeing the hedgehog blushing like crazy, acting nervous in front of her, made the cat smile sweetly and feel a small blush on her own white muzzles. She sighed mentally, just admiring his handsome face and his cute naïve nature.

He noticed the silence and turned up where he found the fire princess gazing at him. He flushed stronger and laughed nervously. The laugh made Blaze snap back to reality. She widened her eyes before turning away, her hand scratching her upper arm while having an innocent smile upon her.

Silence fell upon the pair.

Both didn't say anything for a while; just waiting for the other to start a new conversation.

Silver just stood there, dumbfounded and fluttered. He gulped.

_'Tell her something, you idiot.' _He thought. Only problem for the hedgehog was that he didn't know what to tell. He wanted her to know about his feelings but it would be stupid, he thought. What if she rejected him? Would he lose her friendship forever? No, he couldn't bring himself to tell her about his feelings, yet alone give her a simple compliment.

Why was it so hard for him to tell her?

The female cat cleared her throat, sitting straight and put her usual neutral expression on.

"A lot has happened in these three years. You are a hero and have gotten so many new friends. I have too I will admit, but things have greatly changed ever since I returned to Solaria." Her ears lowered and she kicked out in the air, her voice trailing off and her expression turned into slight misery.

Hearing her like this, sad and more emotional, made the hedgehog twist his head to the side where he saw the lavender feline gazing at the ground, her boots swinging back and forward. He sighed but gave a gentle smile before sitting next to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder, feeling her soft lavender fur through his glove. She looked up at him, slightly confused, she was sad of what she was going to say. She sighed and looked back down.

"After I returned home, I figured that my home, my world, had changed drastically. In the good way, that is. You do remember how everything seemed dark, even though we had fun?"

The hedgehog nodded his head in slight confusion though he told her to continue. She sighed another time, this time in slight tension. "Well, thanks to Iblis, I managed to create seven rectangular emeralds, that are very much a like the Chaos Emeralds, through my own and his flames. They are stabling the Sol Dimension, giving us hope whenever we are near them. We call them the Sol Emeralds."

Concentrating, flickering flames were created in her palms and out came a cyan rectangular emerald. Its power seemed familiar to Silver, yet it did feel different from the emeralds he was used to. This one felt warmer and made him feel hope, filled with it. His eyes were locked onto the gem before he looked up on the girl beside him.

"So they are technically the Chaos Emeralds of your world?" He asked in slight curiosity and confusion. She nodded.

"You can say that. We also call the Sol Emeralds "Gems of Hope" just like you call the Chaos Emeralds "Gems of Miracles." They are both very similar yet so different. With these emeralds being in the same place with the Chaos Emeralds for too long will cause the two worlds to melt together and become one. But it will destroy everything; maybe even rip the time from our worlds."

Silver was stunned and full of awe. The emeralds seemed to be too powerful for one person to have. That confused him.

"So why are you holding them? Do you have them all?"

The princess nodded, sighing deeply out as she kept her hold around the cyan gem, the flames slipping back into her palms. "I have to. I am the guardian of these emeralds. It's my responsibility to make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands. Like Nega."

The hedgehog nodded his head in understanding yet he was still a bit confused why it made her down. His question, however, wasn't asked before the princess looked at his puzzled expression before she continued explaining.

"I have always been alone, Silver. Ever since I returned, life hasn't been as easy for me as it may have been for you." She said sternly, a bit arrogant and annoyed. "My father has also been pushing on me, saying that I have to act more of a princess instead of fighting against Nega. He does not understand the importance of the emeralds or what I want. He thinks that I have to get married away to a prince; it has been a tradition for the king to marry away his daughter for generations. But he does not understand that my place is not to be ruler of Solaria or any other kingdom. My place is where I am and guarding the emeralds. There is no discussion about that."

A small tear managed to escape her eye, streaming down her cheek. She looked up as she felt a soft hand caressing her cheek, stroking the tears away from her eyes. Amber eyes met gold as she stared into the orbs that seemed to bring more hope to Blaze than the emeralds had ever done. She smiled slightly.

"Don't cry, Blaze. Smile. Everything will be okay." Silver said as he wiped the next streaming tear away with a smile upon his lips. She smiled wider and nodded her head slightly.

Both gazed into each other's eyes as Silver lowered his hands down. She didn't want them away. She wanted them to stay there and just being in his embrace, maybe even to lean in and kiss him.

Ironically, both seemed to be like plus and minus. Like a magnet, they were attracted to each other got closer and closer, caught as if they were in a spell. They gasped as they heard the three bells of Soleanna ring. With her ability to have night-vision, Blaze looked up and spotted the clock tower. It was already 1 o'clock.

She sighed and looked back at the hedgehog she loved. A small blush was on his face as he realized what he was about to do to his best friend. Blaze didn't really think about it and sighed.

"It's getting very late. Perhaps it's best if I return to the castle."

The hedgehog looked up on her once more, groaning lowly under his breath in disappointment but nodded his head in agreement. It was safer for her to be there than in the middle of the City of Water.

The male was on his feet contemporary with the princess who hissed as she held to her side.

_'That doesn't look too well. I have to help her.' _He thought and went beside her.

Silver held a cautious arm around Blaze as he waited for her to recover her strength. At the moment the lilac cat seemed mostly recovered and was eager to return to the palace. Silver was still being cautious and refused to leave her side. Suddenly a shape shot overhead and blocked their path.

"Going somewhere?" Silver scowled as he recognised the form of Metal Silver.

At the sight of the metallic copy Blaze's amber eyes went wide. Startled, she glanced at the hedgehog who had placed himself before her like a shield, his arms spread wide as if to hide her from the enemy's eyes. The sight made her blush. Narrowing her eyes though, Blaze stepped free of Silver's hold and advanced on the machine.

"Who, or what, are you?"

Blue optic blazed with light and the robot laughed.

"How rude of me. I'm Metal Silver, the one true Silver. If you want power and protection, Princess Blaze, I am afraid you've chosen the wrong hedgehog. Compared to me that worthless life form by your side is dirt."

An unrestrained snarl escaped Silver at the insult and he scoffed. "Only in your dreams."

The metallic copy seemed to harden and his fists clenched. "It seems I'll have to put you in your place."

"I'd like to see you try." Silver grinned and without giving the robot a chance to respond, he unleashed a powerful psychic blast which launched Metal Silver into the nearest wall. Quickly he turned his worried eyes on Blaze. "Let me handle him."

The cat opened her mouth to protest but the sharp sound of grinding metal cut her off.

The robot's powerful body had allowed him to withstand the brunt of the impact and Metal Silver's eye filled with a cruel light.

"Impressive. But now let me show you what the real Silver can do!"

A perfect copy of Silver's blast sent him slamming into the nearest building. Gold eyes widened in pain as all the air was forced from the hedgehog's body. As gravity forced him away from the now cracked wall, Silver used his telekinesis to remain standing as he panted, gasping to reclaim his strength. The smug look on Metal Silver's face caused a growl to escape the time traveller's lips. Let his emotions control his powers, Silver unleashed another psychic blast at his opponent. The force of the energy wave sent even the heavier metal copy summersaulting skywards. The silver-grey robot hit the paved streets of Soleanna hard enough to create a crater. The tremor of the psychic attack sent a shower of glass raining over Metal Silver, a shower of sparks from the robot exposing the damaged metal armour. Still Metal Silver returned to his feet.

Blue optic's burned. "That was a mistake."

The metallic hedgehog surged forward, a psychic powered bullet. As he slamed into his organic counterpart, he used his armoured fists to deliver a series of blows to Silver's soft flesh. The time traveller gasped but the pain prevented him using his powers to block the blows and all too soon he was forced against one of the ruined shells of Soleanna's buildings, the old brick work crumbled and was consumed by a spider web of dark cracks that reached the second story. Centuries of old cemert fell in a cloud of dust with stained Silver's moonstruck fur and caught in his gold eyes. Robbed of his sight, Silver could only gasp, losing the last of his precious air as Metal Silver slammed into him, widening the cracks and realsing a shower of bricks and glass which cut into the time traveller but left his robot counterpart unscathed. Silver blindly whipped the crumbling grey and brown stones into a small psychic tornado. The harsh ringing of metal that echoed in the deserted street assured him at least one brick had found its mark. The speed of the tornado increased, three further metallic chimes and the soft crackle of a stray electrical wire filled the air before the strong robotic fingers of his copy closed around his throat. The debris plummeted to the already cracked and uneven street, a soft bouncing marked the bricks scattering like the discarded toys of a child.

"Goodbye." Metal Silver gave a cold laughed as he choked his organic counterpart.

Blaze's eyes widened as she watched the dark bruises that were already starting to form on her friend's beautiful pale fur, the thick mane of white fluff doing little to delay the vice like grip from reaching Silver's soft skin or prevent her from realising the danger of Metal Silver's attack. As the robot's grip tightened and she saw Silver's frantically clawing hands, her whole being was filled with dread. Flames danced around her feet and palms as the fear turned to rage, illuminating the beautiful bird shaped mosaic cut into the stone ground. Despite her wounds, Blaze ran, her feet naturally avoided the crumpled clay bricks that littered the streets from Nega's earlier destruction. Using the momentum of her speed, Blaze launched herself into the air and sent a powerful kick towards Metal Silver's head. The force of the blow tore the robot's hand from Silver and the hedgehog dropped to the floor. His eyes were closed and he coughed weakly. Blaze quickly positioned herself before her fallen friend as her eyes frantically scanned the air for the robot. Metal Silver lay a few meters away, a trail of scrapped off silver flakes of metal lead back to the princess. The robot's silver exterior was now marred by a dark, charred line leading up to one of his optics and a deep, heel shaped dent was near the robot's ear. As the machine struggled to push himself from the ground, Blaze held a fireball in her hand as a warning.

Amber eyes risked a quick glance back at Silver and Blaze felt her heart quicken.

"Silver, are you alright?" She asked, her voice worried and her eyes were locked onto the raising hedgehog.

"I'm fine." Silver's voice was hoarse but steady.

With lighting quick movements, Metal Silver unleashed a blast of psychic energy. Silver shoved Blaze aside without warning and in panic, the feline princess sent the fireball she'd been holding straight at Metal Silver. The machine's blue eyes filled with desire and despite the blast he summoned a fireball in his hand.

Blaze could only stare at her fire in the palm of Silver's mirror.

"Blaze, be careful." Silver's voice cut through her daze. "Nega's machines are copycats; they can learn an attack if you use it on them."

"I'm going to like your gift, Princess." Metal Silver's blue eyes were tinged with yellow as he stared at his flame. "Now I can really watch you crumble and burn, fake Silver."

Without warning, Metal Silver cut off his fire.

A dark shadow loomed overhead. Both gold and amber eyes were drawn to the sky. A manic laugh echoed from the airship.

"You weren't expecting me! And I was even nice enough to warn you I would be back sooner than you thought." Nega said and shrugged at the pair. "No matter. I've brought you a present."

A lithe shape leapt from behind Eggman Nega's small airship. The blinding gleam when the city lights caught the shape revealed another robot. However, the arcing flips and twists the machine made on during its fall, exposed the more agile nature of this destroyer. The robot landed in a graceful crouch a few meters away from the duo, one knee bent slightly, her long tail lashed behind the graceful feline body. It was a copy of Blaze. Unlike Blaze however, Metal Blaze's cold yellow orbs seemed the opposite of Blaze's warm amber orbs. The flame that shone in Blaze's eyes was natural, it spoke of the power of fire as an element, a force of both destruction and the sustaining of life. The Metal's eyes burnt with the unnatural light of science, a dim glow that held no freedom, no ability to adapt, to move. It was a poor imitation of beauty.

Teal bolts of energy danced around Silver's clenched fists and he glared up at the scientist. "Another one? We aren't toys you can replace, Nega!"

Despite the sunglasses, Silver could feel Nega's gaze upon him.

"I prefer the term improvements. I thought you'd approve of Metal Blaze, she's the image of agility and beauty."

"You think I like destroying copies of my friends?" The hedgehog trembled with rage as he struggled to his feet. "First Metal Sonic 3.0, then me and now Blaze! I'll destroy you and your worthless copies!"

Suddenly Silver was sent reeling as Blaze slammed into him and force him back to the floor. A fire ball shot overhead. Metal Silver stood by Metal Blaze and beckoned to his counterpart.

Before Silver could rise, Blaze placed a hand on his arm. "Let me fight Metal Blaze. She is my metallic copy, and her fire can't hurt me."

"But Blaze…" Silver's protest was cut off as Blaze turned her big, shining eyes on him.

"You're hurt, Silver." Her voice was full of concern and sincere, something the hedgehog never thought she would show. "Even you can't fight them both. Please let me help you." The cat held his gaze as she spoke.

His mouth had dropped at her statement. Her hand moved down to his and he glanced at it being stroked by her soft finger. Silver glanced back at the waiting robots before sighing. He turned his gaze to his old companion. "Be careful, Blaze."

The princess nodded as they stood. Then before Metal Blaze could react, Blaze spun wildly, becoming the heart of a fire tornado which advanced on the mechanical pair and forced them apart.

Metal Silver launched a wave of psychic energy at the time traveller's feet which Silver easily levitated over. Using his aerial position to his advantage, Silver plummeted to the ground unleashing a shockwave of paralysing psychic energy. Sparks of blue light surrounded Metal Silver and the organic hedgehog quickly trapped his foe in a bubble of psychic energy. Taking advantage of the momentary freedom, Silver turned to find Blaze. Metal Blaze was darting around the normally nimble Blaze, the wound at her side slowing her down. Blaze's fire forced the robot to keep her distance, although the blasts failed to melt the feline robot, the presence of Solaris allowed Blaze to leave dark, claw like burns on the robots shiny metal limbs. Silver watched in horror as Metal Blaze leapt up the side of a building; her swift movements soon put her beyond the sight of the fiery princess. As Blaze spun frantically to find her copy the robot launched herself at her opponent. Metal Blaze's foot connected with Blaze's side and the feline gave a pained scream. The metallic cat forced her sharp heeled foot in Blaze's side as she stood over her fallen foe. Tears was running down the princess' cheek as she felt the blood running out and she tried pushing the foot away from her wounded side to no avail. Metal Blaze had the upper hand now.

Adrenalin filled Silver as he launched the still stunned Metal Silver at the mechanical cat. The force of the impact knocked Metal Blaze flying. A bang filled the fading night and the combined force of the mechanical life forms sent one of the city's public buildings, a broad three story block tumbling to the ground in shards that were bigger than Silver. Though the thick and choking cloud of dust, Silver noted the dented mechanical bodies with satisfaction as he ran towards Blaze's fallen form. Even from a distance he could see the dark stain on Blaze's torn dress was darkening. Metal Blaze had reopened the wound!

"Blaze!" Silver gasped as he pulled the cat close to him and attempted to press his hand to the cut on her side.

"Silver." She whimpered as she had her eyes clenched shut, the water wouldn't stop flooding over her eyes. She opened them and stared intensely at the male she loved. "Th-The robots."

Blaze's voice was filled with pain but her eyes were fixed on her replica and her metal partner. Silver glanced at the pair who were now advancing and shot a guilt filled look at Blaze. The princess offered a weak smile which quickly turned into a grimace and pushed him away.

"Go, Silver." He shook his head, refusing to leave her side and held her tighter. The robots kept moving closer. Blaze took around his collar, anger showing up in her blazing and beautiful amber eyes. "Go!" She said behind teeth.

Silver gulped before letting go of Blaze. He ran to meet his opponents and was relieved to see that both robots chose to ignore the injured Blaze. As he watched the two robots move around him, Silver groaned; Metal Blaze's speed and astronomical agility made her impossible to keep track of. Suddenly a metallic heel sailed into the back of his head and Silver winced as it sent him staggering. Fortunately his training allowed him to quickly regain his footing and deliver a high powered blast that launched Blaze's robotic counterpart towards the nearest canal, her silver and purple form shattered a pristine white railing that enclosed one of the city's arching bridges. Long metal claws still clung to stonework.

From the corner of his eye he spotted the lavender shape of his female companion move as she tried to drag herself towards him. Gritting his teeth together the pale hedgehog held up a hand surrounded by a teal glow to hold her in place and shook his head. Turning to face his metallic copy Silver saw triumph in those unfeeling blue optics.

"Still trying? I'll admit for a fake Silver you're remarkable." The blue orbs glowed as the robot launched into the air, a shower of blue sparks surrounded his hand as he landed and paralysed his opponent. "But you are just a mere fake."

The grey hedgehog flinched as he was flung back against the wall, the damaged, jagged brickwork cut into his back. Opposite him, his metallic counterpart grinned wickedly as it pinned him to the wall. Gold eyes blinked with the pain of having his own psychic shock attack used against him. However, the advantage of Metal Silver using his own attacks against him was that Silver knew exactly how to counter. For a moment the hedgehog allowed himself to go limp, feigning unconsciousness and watched as his overly confident doppelganger lowered his fist. Silver slid to the ground and, while Metal Silver advanced, placed his palm flat on the aged stone. Absently, Silver noticed the small green weeds that poked out of the grey brickwork just as his rival's shadow eclipsed the pale light cast by the bend and melting street lights. Their odd angles caused strange shadowy distortions on the walls.

With a slow steady breath Silver allowed his mirror to lean closer before the teal marking on his hand blazed into life and a large, hexagonal section of street tore itself from the earth to deliver a powerful uppercut to Metal Silver's face. The robot's muzzle bend inwards, a deep distortion that forced the metal back into Nega's circuitry. The strain caused a jagged edge as the metal plates that made up the silver robot pulled away and the machine's silver plating was illuminated by the cold blue glow of his core. One of the robot's icy optics flickered briefly and then dimmed, a long, forked crack corrupting the black screen.

Metal Silver gave a wild screech as another piece of uprooted stonework crashed into his back and sent him sprawling to the floor, another damaged panel exposing more circuitry at the back. The robot's one remaining optic was filled with a furious blue spark and a green light tinted the metallic features. Silver had a second to throw up a blue shield of energy before the wild green spear closed the small distance between the hedgehogs. Against the stolen chaos power of Shadow, Silver's shield took the worst of the damage but the force of the blast still lifted Silver from the ground, this time throwing him against a second story window. The glass must have been shatterproof as the hedgehog didn't vanish into the building and instead, Silver was forced to catch himself before he hit the floor. Without risking another chance for Silver to attack, a second Chaos Spear assaulted the weary time traveller. This time the blast did cause a cave in and Silver was propelled backwards into a small kitchen, the black granite worktops now being concealed by a still settling storm of cement dust. Dazed, Silver watched Metal Silver's outline consume the light from the street as he stepped through the hole.

"I do like your friend Shadow." Metal Silver laughed as his single working optical sensor sought out his dust covered copy.

A sharp pain caused Silver to reach for his head and the glove he pulled away was stained dark, the wet coppery smell of blood, a clear warning this fight could not continue for long. Silver staggered to his feet, the marble tiles offering little grip and forcing the psychic to cling to a cracked and scratched table that seemed out of place amongst the more expensive worktops. His duplicate laughed at the sight and Silver growled. As Silver clenched a fist to retaliate, Metal Blaze appeared in his line of sight.

"Enough." The emotionless voice was directed at her metallic companion. "It's time to end this."

Mad light seemed to fill Metal Silver's optics. "Very well."

A strange glow seemed to emit from both of the robots as they grabbed Silver. The hedgehog felt exhausted and barely moved as the pair threw him against a wooden cupboard with enough force to reduce the wood to splitters, one of the longest one embedded in his arm. The robots held him in place the strength of their grip threatening to cut off circulation. Suddenly, a shriek of pain echoed through the street.

His eyes widened in fright. But not a fear that something would hurt him; the fear of a certain princess being tortured.

"Blaze!" Silver cried as he twisted and kicked in his captors hold, his energy renewed.

The movement did little to the robots. Metal Silver smiled coldly and moved to allow Silver to see Blaze through the broken wall. Eggman Nega, who had been forgotten in the fight, had moved to hover over Blaze. A laser shot volts of electric at the wounded princess form and she thrashed and hissed as the sparks consumed her.

"Blaze." Silver called again and tried to summon a blast of psychic energy to knock Nega away.

Nothing came.

The hedgehog looked confused at his hand, blinked as he couldn't even feel the energy that used to rush through his body. He tried again. But nothing came.

He groaned as he lay powerless to the ground, feeling the energy that had emerged from the metal palms of the robot pair. His eyes shot open, rather slowly actually, as he heard a scornful laughter from the female purple robot.

"Still trying? It's no use for you to escape. This energy drains your power completely and fills us with new forms of strength. There is no way you can get out of our grip."

He gritted his teeth in anger, the sounds he made was like hissing snakes masking pain filled groans.

Blaze rolled around the ground, weak and steaming with her eyes closed. She shook with both fear and in pain. Her body didn't feel right, as if every muscle had been removed and replaced wrongly back to their fitting area. Hearing the cry coming from Silver, she cracked opened her eyes, seeing the hedgehog being held in a firm grip of some sort of energy. Everything was so blurry for Blaze but she could see Silver struggling to get free.

She forced her hands to the ground and pushed herself up. She fell, but pushed up again with the help of her elbows. However, she collapsed as she was zapped once more and shrieked again.

"It's no use, your majesty! I've got you now!" Nega laughed maniacally as he saw the princess lying helpless on the ground, shaking from the tons of volts that went through her body. In the distance of her losing consciousness, she heard a desperate cry from her love. Under her awareness, she cried back to him.

"S-S-Sil-Silver!"

...

Her flashlight was turned on as she searched the empty dark city of Soleanna. Everything was so, so quiet, not one of the nearby lamp posts were lit, and it almost scared the living hell of the female as she heard a cat fumbling at a trashcan.

She sighed in relief and continued her walk in her search for one specific person. A person that was said to destroy her people.

_'Man. Where are you, hedgehog?' _ Her thoughts ran through the vision she had when she was in a possession of a powerful cyan emerald. She stopped and glared upwards to the moon. "If what I saw is true, then this guy will terrorise my people in the near future. Once he is powerful enough, there is no way I will be able to take him out, not even with someone to help me."

She closed her eyes and looked down. Her free hand turned into a fist and the grip around the flashlight tightened. Her teeth gritted against each other as her anger began getting to her head. "Just you wait, you murder! I will destroy you!"

And with that said to herself, she ran through the dead silenced City of Water, with new confidence in her soul. Her anger seemed to let a purplish glow be visible in her eyes as she continued her search, looking in every corner of the city she passed.

Suddenly, her ears twitched and the female hedgehog's head jerked towards the farthest clock tower. A shriek came from the far side of the city.

Relying on instincts, she ran quickly towards that part of the city, leaving dust behind her. _'Now what can this be? If it is that hedgehog, oh I will wreck him apart if I find him there!'_

She ran and ran and ran, until she lost the track of where the shriek before came from. She looked around with her flashlight, the tension getting into her bones and almost made her shiver down her spine. She turned around in circles, searching for just the smallest clue of where to go next.

"Come on." She whispered out to the dark quite street. "Just give me another sign. Anything."

She stood there for minutes before she heard another cry.

Her head snapped to the left, down the square, where the scream seemed to have its origin. Again, she set off in a sprint, ran down the square, and turned to the right at the end. It seemed as if she had run a marathon before she seemed to find the place. She heard evil laughter, something that could belong to a very old man, and heavy footsteps that did not belong to neither humans nor mobians.

"Metal Silver!" Commanded the elder man. The female hedgehog turned her head around the corner and spotted the source of all this. In a strange hovering high tech device, sat an old bald-looking man with a long grey moustache. The small amount of the light from a few half lit lamp posts and the moon's shining beauty, allowed her to see that this man wore a grey-black jacket with yellow strips, and bright red pants as for what the female saw.

"Yes, Doctor Nega?" The metallic copy asked as he and his metallic partner stepped out of the demolished building, his blue optics showing some disappointment.

The female hedgehog gasped at the sight of him, hiding back in the shadows and just hoped nobody heard her as she covered her mouth. Luckily, they didn't; she was too far away to be heard. She glanced around the corner, just watching the awfully familiar hedgehog. Her eyes began being slight purple as her anger got into her.

The doctor pointed at the unconscious lavender princess, her wound reopened but dried, and more had showed up after the electricity that went through her body a mere minute ago.

"Take Blaze to my ship! Now that I have her, nothing is able to stop me! Hee hee hee!" His mobile hovered quickly up into the carrier that send a shadow over the city.

Metal Silver groaned and rolled his metallic cold blue optics. Looking over at the knocked out princess, he brought his hand up and a glow covered it and the fallen feline's body.

Her mouth dropped as she watched on in admiration and shock. This was the traitor's amazing and incredible power! But he didn't look like the person in her vision. This person seemed too robotic to be her target though she feared this one was just as powerful.

Blaze dropped into the arms of the metallic copy of her love, lying limp as a rope in the cold metal. Her head was at the side, eyes painfully closed and mouth slightly open. The copy brought her head close to his chest for a better hold around her.

"Silver…"

The robot narrowed his one lit eye at the girl, rolling it afterwards as his gaze went to heavily injured hedgehog inside the building. There he was, lying underneath crushed furniture and crumbled stones and tree from the building's wall, unconsciousness.

He huffed and smirked proudly with his invisible mouth. "I told you I would put you in your place, faker. You are nothing but pure dirt."

It seemed the robot feline heard that and looked at the living being under everything. She chuckled as she had her hands on her cold hips.

"It's almost a shame that we have to leave him like this. Without even saying a proper goodbye." Metal Blaze laughed evilly, before activating her flaming soles under the red metal of her feet and shoot upwards into the opening of the Nega Carrier.

Metal Silver stared after her with an evil chuckle escaping him. He looked back at the still hedgehog, whose arm and pointy quills, as well as the back of his head, were just visible.

"Don't worry, Silver. I will take "good" care of your princess."

The female hedgehog was stunned and confused about this. Who was it that was inside that building that seemed so interesting for this metallic hedgehog robot? He said before that there was a fake one of him, but it only made her more puzzled.

Metal Silver set off with the lavender feline princess in his arms, a cyan glow covering them both and the same colour leaved a trail of beauty behind them. Once up in the Carrier, the opening closed and to the female on the ground's surprise, the airship turned invisible and moved away.

What seemed to be long minutes, the female stayed put in fear and thinking that they would return. She walked slowly out of the shadows, lit her flashlight again and got a better view of her surroundings. Her mouth dropped dramatically as she saw the destroyed part of buildings everywhere. The ground seemed to look as if there had been an earthquake, windows from surrounding buildings were broken, walls and stories of the buildings were missing and lamp posts seemed to be broke in half.

She flashed everywhere and forgot totally about the living being inside one of the demolished buildings.

A flicker of a glowing light was visible out of the corner of her eye.

Out of curiosity, the hedgehog moved her light towards the glittering glow. A rectangular gem came into view, a cyan coloured one, and it seemed awfully familiar to her. Kneeling down, she picked the gem up and examined it carefully. It seemed just as powerful as the gem she possessed earlier, just warmer.

Thinking it might be useful later, the girl tucked it down into her dark blue pants' pocket.

Her ear twitched and she gave a gasp as some stones seemed to roll inside the open holed building.

Shakily and hesitantly, she stood up and walked slowly towards it. All that happened for this short amount of time seemed to scare the female, which she rarely was. Her flashlight was shaking in her hand and she had to use the other for holding it steady.

The opening was a rough large hole; she let the light around it, seeing that it could only have been a strong collusion that made the hole appear as it did. The inside seemed to wake her interest, but even more interesting was the person she saw lying inside of what could be the living room. She gave a small gasp and her eyes widened for a short second. She rubbed them and was about to run to the person's aid. From where she was, she couldn't exactly tell who he was but her guts told her to keep as far away from him as possible.

However, a call outside made her freeze.

"Silver! Blaze! Where are you?"

The voice belonged to a male and in the distance, the female could hear some others, someone that could be friends of the one calling.

Slight panicking, the hedgehog girl ran out and turned her flashlight off. She jumped onto a latter near the building and start crawling up. Once up on the roof, she had a perfect view over Soleanna. Mostly.

"Guys! Over here!"

A female pink hedgehog called and in a second, a blue blur seemed to stand by her side.

Looking down, the mysterious female spotted a blue and a pink hedgehog and soon, others came. A red echidna, two orange ones, a yellow small bee, an orange raccoon girl, a green crocodile, a purple chameleon, a two-tailed yellow fox and a cream-coloured rabbit. All these mobians made the hedgehog growl, but instead of staying behind, her feet moved quickly towards the dark night, towards the destroyed torch of Soleanna, and brought her forward.

They peeked inside and gasped in horror.

"Silver!" They cried before some of them ran to him and tried pulling the white male out.

"It's impossible! He is stuck!" The rosy one said, worries filling her mind.

"Step aside, Amy! I'll take care of this!" Knuckles said, bringing out his shovel claws around his knuckles. In not even a minute, the silvery hedgehog was free.

"Oh my goodness! He is heavily injured!" The one orange echidna said, her quills being wiggled in green bandage. Her shirt was white with a green flower and her skirt was green. Her sandals were white with straps up along her legs. She turned around with a small tear running down her cheek. "We have to take him to the hospital quickly!"

She stood up and clasped her hands together in front of her, her eyes being all glass like.

"Whoa, Tikal. Relax. Silver will be okay." Shade said as she placed her hands on the slight younger female.

The purple chameleon turned his attention elsewhere, facing the cobalt blue one. "You are the fastest, Sonic. You have to carry Silver to safety."

The fastest thing alive shrugged but gave a thumb up while winking. "You can count on me, Espio!"

A sob made them turn their heads outside. Vector, Charmy and Marine where standing beside Cream who whimpered, hiding her face in her hands as she had her back turned against the group inside the house.

Sonic swung Silver over his shoulders, around his neck, and speeded outside with the others behind him.

"Cream, what's wrong?" Tails said, placing his hand on the young rabbit. She turned around, her eyes filled with water. She turned her whole self around and in her hands she had the white Sol Emerald.

"I found this lying in that crater." She sniffled, pointing her head towards the crater as she said. "Doctor Eggman Nega…*sniff*… he has Blaze!"

* * *

><p><em>Katerina Talks! <em>

_Should I make it stay like "Katerina Talks" or should I go back to "Trivia Time"? _

_Oh. Hello you guys. Welcome to another finished chapter of **Elemental Flames**. Hoped you liked it because I really put some effort into this chapter and it was so much fun to write. But the future chapters will be even more fun to write. Anyways. Silvaze moments for the win. I do like their interaction and the way Blaze explain about her duty as the Sol Emeralds guardian and her complicated relationship with her father. He understands her and we all know that. But I just find it touching how Blaze is so much more open in front of Silver than any other person. _

_Metal Blaze?! Yeah, that's right. I made a robot copy of Blaze herself. What would you have expected? Eggman Nega is the number one arch nemesis for both Silver and Blaze. Of course, there is going to be robotic copies of them. I am, however sorry if they are a bit overpowered, but that's the consequences when you are injured and wiped out from a former fight. _

_And we get introduces to a mysterious hedgehog girl, who apparently is after a certain hedgehog. Can you guess who? I think it's obvious but I won't tell anyway. It's an OC who is owned by GothNebula. That's how much you get out of me. _

_Katerina Oestergaard. _


	9. Searching for Information

**Elemental Flames **

_Chapter 9 - Searching_

* * *

><p>At first, blackness covered his mind; then bit by bit, light seemed to be shown for him. He looked straight up into a white ceiling. He groaned and grunted and hissed as he took around his stomach.<p>

He blinked his eyes in confusion.

Looking down, he spotted his torso was wrapped well in with bandage. The bed he lay in was white too and his surroundings where a white colour as well.

Where the heck was he?

He took to his head and groaned highly. Rubbing his head, he felt like he had an ice bag on it.

"Man. That's the last time I underestimate metal me." He muttered between the grunts. He removed his hand from the head and rubbed his eyes and got a better view of his surroundings. Nothing much was in it. It was just a small room with a blue chair in the corner, a white high table on his right and on his left was the window.

The sun beamed in and the reflection from the water made him cover his eyes.

"Where am I?" He asked himself as he sat slowly up in the bed, groaning as he rubbed his bandaged torso. "I can't recall I got here last night. Wait. How did I get here?" He looked frantically around in search for the one girl he deeply loved.

_'W-Where… where is Blaze?!'_

His thoughts raced through last night's event and he remembered Eggman Nega zapped the princess with a huge amount of volts while he was just a mere bystander.

He tried getting loose of Metal Silver and Metal Blaze's draining power source, but it was no use. As soon as they had drained him, Metal Silver knocked the hedgehog out by punching him with a fist right in on his side head, and some of the ceiling crashed down on Silver.

In his panic state, Silver jumped out of bed for his search for Blaze. However, he tumbled down the floor, landing straight on his sore chest.

"Argh!"

He rolled around and took around himself. He did feel he had everything on. His shoes and jeans were there. His shirt was filled in with blood after he used it to stop the bleeding on Blaze and had thrown it out so he had been exposing his chest to her all last night.

It did make him blush and face palm at that.

"Silver?"

He looked up and there stood Sonic in the doorway, with Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Shade, and a smaller rabbit holding her mother's hand, behind the blue blur.

He waved dumbfounded at them and said, "Hey."

Rolling his eyes, Knuckles helped Silver up on the bed with the help of Sonic. "Now, care to tell us what happened after we left you and your girlfriend together last night?"

Silver's eyes shot wide open and a strong blush appeared on his peach muzzles. "She is not my girlfriend!" He exclaimed and looked away. "We are just… very good friends."

"Whatever you say, leaf head."

At that state, he got a slap in the back head by Amy Rose herself. And boy did that hurt on the echidna. He exclaimed at the pain and looked at the pissed off rosy hedgehog who had her hammer by her side and crossed arms. He looked away with a small embarrassed look on his face.

The orange echidna cleared her throat.

"Well, anyway. Except for Knuckles' unimportant comment there, you were about to tell us something about what happened last night."

"Yes, please dear. Tell us what happened with you and Blaze. I am sure there is an explanation to her disappearing." The mother rabbit said, walking closer to the young white male with her daughter behind her. She took some eager steps forward with her eyes full of worries, but with small amounts of hope in them.

Silver looked at her and sighed deeply out before shaking his head. He brought his hands to his head and stroked them down before speaking.

"We were just talking and hanging out like friends do; talking about how it has been with us and what has happened in all these years we were separated. But at one point, Blaze suggested that since it was getting late, it would be best if I brought her back to the castle." He said in slight melancholy. He decided to keep the part of them nearly kissing out though. It was something that didn't needed to be let out. He sighed. "But just as we were on the way towards Soleanna Castle, Metal Silver showed up. He is Nega's second combat robot after 3.0 and the metallic copy of me. I had to fight him in order to protect Blaze and keep her away from any sort of fighting since she was hurt. It worked well out in the beginning, but Metal Silver got the upper hand and was about to finish me off before Blaze unleashed her pyrokinesis at him…" The hedgehog stopped up for a second and looked at the focused faces that stared at him. Everybody were locked in place by the story. "We would have been able to take him out together, we knew that, but unfortuantely Nega showed with his newest invention; another combat robot, Metal _Blaze_, and-"

"Metal Blaze!?" Sonic and Knuckles exclaimed in surprise, startling everybody. "What's that guy's problem? Can't he think of something else than copying us?" The red echidna contiuned as his fists clenched and he was about to punch the nearby table. However, a hand, just as strong as his own, stopped his just in time.

"Knuckles! Stop it already, and let Silver continue." Shade said and pulled the raged echidna down back in the chair. He crossed his arms and grumbled under his breathe. Shade turned towards the white hedgehog. "Continue Silver. What happened next?"

He sighed. "Well, after Metal Blaze showed up, things got a bit more tense. We both fought against our own copy; me against Metal Silver, her against Metal Blaze. It didn't last for long before I watched Metal Blaze tortured Blaze just by boring her sharp heel into her wound." People made painful grimaces at his reference, almost as if they were feeling the pain the lavender princess went through last night. "I used my Psychokinesis to knock her away and at my metallic counterpart. I tried to help Blaze and stop the bleeding, but she waved me away and told me to go since the robots approached us. I don't think they really noticed Blaze, but I think they knew she was there; they just didn't seem interested in harming her any more. But I am almost certain it was part of Nega's plan. Because while I was fighting against both robots and once they managed to pin me down and drain me from energy, Nega zapped Blaze with electricity. I tried fighting back but to no avail. That energy they trapped me in seemed to drain me from powers and gain them more of my energy. And before I knew it, Metal Silver knocked me out and all I heard was Blaze screaming and calling me." He finally ended. His anger was getting to him and his palms formed into fists and with one of them, he send it at the wall. "I was too weak! It's my fault! I could have prevented this from happening, I know it!"

"Silver!"

The hedgehog didn't look over at the speaking female Rose. He kept his gaze at the white sheets he sat on and first glared at her hand that was on his shoulder.

"It's not your fault. Nobody could have done such a thing as you did or kept Blaze safe for that long."

Silver scoffed in arrogance. "Except Sonic. Saving the world is his daily routine after all."

"Hey!" He said and plumped beside the silver male. "That might be true but if metal you is just as strong as yourself, then I find it hard to protect Blaze while battling him at the same time. Besides, if it wasn't for you showing up in the first place, Blaze would have been gone for good, most likely."

Silver's ears lowered. He inhaled deeply, looking miserable before looking up and into Sonic's emerald green eyes. "You really think so?"

At his naïve statement, Sonic couldn't help but to laugh at him. "Of course! I mean, come on, Silv. Having psychic abilities is way past the coolest thing ever!" He looked away, chuckling before rubbing his black nose. "Well, not as cool as breaking the sonic wall."

Silver rolled his eyes before smirking. Deciding it was payback time, the white male pushed the azure hedgehog off the bedside much to Sonic's and the other's surprise. But everybody soon turned out to laugh at this. Silver smiled and pushed himself off the bedside. On the table, without him noticing it until now, was a new blue t-shirt for him to wear. He shrugged and didn't think much about it and pulled the shirt down over his head. He was very careful when pulling it down over his torso since it was still quite sore.

He cleared his throat before walking towards the door.

"Hey, where you going?" The yellow fox asked. Silver turned around, surprised Tails had even asked him such a question.

"Uh… I am going after Nega to save Blaze." He said in a confused tone while rubbing his back neck and pointing his other hand out of the door.

"If that's so," Knuckles said and moved closer with a proud grin. "Then I am going too. Sitting here and do nothing is a waste of time anyway."

"Well, if Knuckle-head is going, then I'm coming too." Sonic said and was about to speed out. However, a hand got the grip around his collar, pulling him close to a pink hedgehog.

"And what were you exactly thinking with me, hm?" Rosy said and looked with deadly eyes at him though something teasingly was hidden in it. Sonic looked nervous for a second, sweat dropping at his girlfriend's remark. "Were you thinking that I should just stay behind here and just take care of Dash while you throw yourself out on another dangerous adventure?"

Sonic gulped and began shaking his hands wildly in front of him while Amy had an annoyed face expression with crossed arms. In reality, it was all just a façade. All she wanted was for Sonic to feel just a bit guilty and bad which he definitely was feeling.

"H-Hey Amy. I-I didn't mean it like that. Of course, you can come with me." He said and opened his arms as gesturing her to give her a hug. "Come on, sweet. I-I didn't mean it like that."

Amy approached the nervous male, crossed arms and with a smirk showing up which made Sonic lower his arms in confusion. Once up close, Amy had her arms behind her back, giving the hedgehog a flirty glare and a sexy smile. Sonic blushed as he began rubbing his neck. As he was about to tell that Rosy looked beautiful when like this, he was silenced by her lips. Her eyes were closed while his were wide open. But soon they closed and he wrapped his arms around Amy's waist while she herself wrapped her arms around his neck. None of them cared that they were close to make out in a room in Soleanna Hospital. And they didn't notice either that they were the only people in the room since everybody had left them alone to spend some privacy.

Once breaking apart for lack of air, they panted heavily, saliva running down their mouths which they quickly wiped away. They stared deeply into each other's eyes with burning love showing up in their faces. Sonic moved his face closer to Amy's and start rubbing her nose with his own, giving her a so called Eskimo kiss.

"My beautiful Rose. You know you are worse than I am?" He said flirty, nibbling her cheek ever so gently, making Amy giggle between a small moan.

"Sonikku. Stop. That tickles." She said before closing her eyes again, feeling his breath against her lips.

"Mr Sonic? Miss Amy?"

The sudden soft and innocent voice made the two hedgehogs break apart, blushing a scarlet red colour, before spinning towards the door opening.

"Oh, I am sorry. Did I interrupt anything?" The cream coloured rabbit asked as she had her hand against the doorframe. Her blue chao flied in and was just beside her head. Cheese's usual yellow orb above his head was now a question mark.

Sonic cleared his throat while Amy kicked her feet out in the open air with a clear embarrassed look visible. "N-No, Cream. You didn't." He lied. He was confused though why nobody was in the room other than the three of them. "Where is everybody?"

"Well," Cream began and dusted her orange dress off. "Mr Silver and Miss Shade began walking towards the forest entry, while Mr Knuckles and Tails said they would go look for clues at the beach. They said that they would possibly need your help, Sonic. Shade suggested that you, Amy, go with her and Silver."

Amy closed her eyes, her hands turning into fists. However, as soon as she felt Sonic's hands on her shoulders, she opened her eyes and looked miserably into his forest green eyes. He kissed her forehead before dragging her to the door opening.

"Don't look so down, Ames. It will be okay." He winked, kissed her lips quickly and let go of her hand. "Our search for Blaze will go much faster if we split up." And then he ran down the hall and was in a second out running on the street on his way towards the beach, Wave Ocean.

Amy sighed as her gaze went from the window where she watched the blue blur ran past her. She then walked out on the hallway with Cream running up beside her. Her outfit hadn't changed one bit from yesterday. "Uhm… Amy?"

She kept walking but slowed down for the young rabbit to keep up. She looked to her side. "Yes, Cream?"

"I was thinking…" She trailed off, and stopped walking forward while twirling her fingers around.

Amy stopped too, confused and curious on what was troubling her sister like friend. "Yes?"

Cream inhaled deeply, bringing her arms down to her side. "Can I come with you and save Blaze?" She asked in nervousness. Why wouldn't she be nervous? In all these years, Cream had almost never been on an adventure with the Sonic crew. She was always a bystander when the most awful things happened. "I want to help and I know I can. Blaze is my best friend. I can't stay here and watch you all helping her while I don't."

"Wow, easy Cream. Uhm…" She was about to give Cream a no, but watching her with those sweet eyes that was filled with guilt, made Amy realize how important this was for Cream. In all these years, Amy had tried to make Cream stand out of this, always taking the responsibility for her. But it looked like she had to let go if that now and let the young rabbit explore the world. She sighed and looked at the ground. "Fine. You can come along."

Surprised, Amy was knocked backwards and the air was gone in a flash as Cream, and Cheese, hurried forward to give the pink hedgehog a big unforgettable hug. "Thank you so much, Amy." She said with a slight tearful voice. She dried her eyes off before letting go of her sister. "I won't fail you!" And with that, she ran down in joy to the street, waiting there for Amy to come. And once the two sisters and the chao were together, they set off towards the forest entry. 

.. 

It was surely a surprise to see both the white hedgehog and orange echidna standing there and waiting. They talked to each other. About the clues they got. There was no trace of where Nega could've taken Blaze to in the forest, but the verbal clues they had gotten from the people who, surprisingly, were in the city last night, explained that they saw this huge aircraft heading towards the desert before it turned invisible.

"Do you really think Blaze can be there?" Silver questioned while rubbing his back neck. "I mean, Eggman took Elise there last time to hide her from Sonic and get the Flames of Disaster out of her. I don't think Nega would go to the same place his ancestor went to."

"That's what he wants you to think, Silver." Shade said as she had one hand on her hip. "Besides, it's the only clue we got. Telling from the people who saw Nega's airship last night, I say we should take this chance and search for the princess in Dusty Desert."

Silver was about to protest until…

"Hey Shade! Silver!" Amy shouted with a hand waving in the air as she ran over the small bridge that connected the forest entry and the main roads of Soleanna. Cream was right behind her, basking her long ears up and down as she flied over the water with ease.

"Amy? Finally. That took you some time." Shade invented, smirking at the rosy ones red face. "I can just imagine how Sonic kisses are. All wet and rough." She said teasingly in a romantic way, giggling afterwards and Silver couldn't help but to let a small chuckle escape him as well.

"Shut up. Both of you." Amy said and crossed her arms in irritation. "They are much gentler than one would realize."

An awkward silence fell upon them. It broke once Silver realized that the small rabbit was there.

"Uh… what are you doing here, Cream, right?" He asked as he pointed at her for a second before letting his arm drop back to his side.

The rabbit nodded her head and moved forward. "Yes, my name is Cream. And this is my chao friend, Cheese." She said, pointing with an open hand to the blue creature that flied beside her. Cream looked back at the male. "And you are Silver. I've heard that you and Blaze have been very good friends since childhood."

Silver was flattered. A little bit though. But he smiled anyway with a blush crawling to his peach muzzles. He rubbed his cheek with his finger. "Uhm… yeah. We are."

Cream kept smiling, a small thought popping up in her head as she realized that Blaze was strange when around Silver. At least she was whenever you mentioned his name.

"Mr Silver?" She asked in confusion, her smile leaving and curiosity showing up in her eyes. Silver looked into those sweet chocolate brown eyes of hers. "Do you and Miss Blaze have any sort of… relationship?"

Nobody ever expected a question like that to be brought up. Especially not from a girl like Cream. It wasn't usually her to stick her nose in other people's private life.

The male's golden eyes widened and his blush was now visible for everyone. And the snickers the two girls made were making the situation even more awkward and tangled to get out of. Silver turned around, hoping to hide his embarrassment. Every time he thought of being closer to his best friend, his heart was always pumping harder and faster. But now… oh it was something completely different. Being asked about having a _relationship _with Blaze, with BLAZE, and being asked by it from an almost 10-years-old rabbit girl, it was so embarrassing for Silver. Not just embarrassing, it was almost shamming.

"Uh…" He began, sweating as if it was 50 degrees Celsius. "N-No! No, we-we… we are just very good f-friends!" He quickly said, his blushing keeping its place. "We are just friends. A-And bes-sides… uh… I-I d-d-don't see her t-that c-c-close."

What a lie and he couldn't even believe his own words. He truly loved Blaze, more than anything, and anyone. Even more than Amanda loved him, and that's something all right. But admitting it for her… for anybody really, it was one of the toughest things Silver had ever gone through. Right now, he would rather battle Metal Silver than talking about his feelings, those feelings for Blaze he tried to hide his best.

Amy puffed Shade with her elbow, giggling at the poor hedgehog's red face. Good thing that Shade had been in the Nocturnes Clan's military to be commander of the troops, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to control her laughter both she and Amy, mostly Amy, kept in. She crossed her arms as she saw Silver still saying that he and Blaze were just friends.

"Right, Silver." She said, setting pressure on the first word.

"I-I'm telling you. Blaze and I a-are j-just very close friends." He protested, his psychokinesis flaring up as a small weak teal glow covered him.

"Calm down, Silvy." Amy teased, but it only made Silver blush madder. She took around his arms, giggling at the hedgehog's embarrassing look. "Don't worry. We believe you... but only for now." Silver looked up and met the female hedgehog's sea greenish eyes, confusion hitting him though his face was still as red as a ripe tomato. "Oh, don't think I don't know what you fe-"

Silver cut her off, covering her mouth with his hand and looked at the two confused girls behind Amy. Clearly they haven't heard what Amy was about to say. And it looked like Amy was looking right through Silver's "cover" of keeping his feelings for Blaze a secret. Amy knew what he felt, that he was in deep love with the fire princess. He removed his hand and pulled her a bit away from the others, putting his finger over his mouth as a signal that he didn't want people to know about this.

"Okay, you got me." He whispered. "I do like Blaze. Very much. But please, don't tell anybody. Especially not Blaze."

He then looked back and rubbed his arm. Amy went closer, right next to his ear and began whispering back. "Don't worry, Silver. Your secret is safe with me." He looked at the rosy one who winked at him as a sign of trust. He smiled and nodded, a signal that he understood. By now, his blush was gone and it pleased him.

"Well?" Shade asked, almost knowing what they had been whispering about. She had a habit of knowing secrets people told each other.

"What? N-Nothing." Silver said, beginning to sweat dropping. Shade looked at Amy who nodded her head and gave thumbs up. Shade understood and her smile disappeared and her mind was now filled with seriousness.

"What I mean with 'well' was that I wanted to ask if you all were ready to search for Blaze in Dusty Desert?" She lied. Clearly she knew what Amy and Silver were talking about; she just kept it for herself.

"Oh." Silver said surprised. "Of course. We've got no time to lose. Whatever Nega is doing to her, it can't be good." And with that Silver began running towards that one portal that would warp them away from Soleanna Castle Town and end up in Dusty Desert. The others followed quickly.

...

She had been up all night, searching for that darn hedgehog. But now… now, she was sleeping on this oak bench. And boy did she hate sleeping like a tramp. This was nothing like she was used to. From being a wealthy princess, who did everything she wanted more or less, and sleeping in a bed that was like heaven, to be a woman who asked for a bit of money so that she could buy something to eat.

Ugh. All this was pissing the purple hedgehog girl off. And her back couldn't agree more that this hedgehog hunt was a waste of time.

"No. Come on, Nebula. You have to… catch him and… end him. Arghh." She groaned and pushed herself up from the hard bench. She stretched her arms, yawned before cracking her back. "Ah! Ahh…. Much better." She then swung her arms around, both individually for a second, then jumped to her feet and made her body wake up by shaking every part of her limps.

Once awaking her body, she needed to refresh herself. So therefore, she went closer to the water and splashed it in her face. And it sure did the trick of walking her up because the water was icy cold. She covered her face and screamed into them, but she quickly covered her mouth and inhaled deeply.

"Wow. That was colder than I had imagined." She inhaled the fresh air and spread her arms out as if warming her body by letting the sunlight hit her glowing purplish fur. She exhaled with joy and her arms went down her side. There was a smile on her face but it vanished as quickly as it arrived. "Now, no more playing around. I've gotta find that white hedgehog and end him for good!" And with that said, she sprinted away.

From a far, this orange echidna stared in awe at the female's speed. Dust was leaving behind her but it was rare for Tikal to watch someone run at that speed. She thought her cobalt eyes played tricks on her and therefore she rubbed them. But it wasn't a hallucination. It really was a _female_ hedgehog that ran away from her. In curiosity, the apricot echidna followed the mysterious hedgehog princess. Increasing speed, Tikal focused her Chaos Energy and closed her eyes. Before people saw it, she was in the shadows but the orange light that surrounded her soon consumed her entire being and she was in her red spirit ball. Now Tikal would be able to follow this girl unnoticeable.

..

She had speeded around for what felt like forever. In all honesty, it was only for 20 minutes. Nebula had run around town and had searched what could be 2/3 parts of it. But she hadn't found a single clue of the white hedgehog that was said to destroy her people and the kingdom of Lunarion itself. It may have been hard to believe it, but Nebula was from the Sol Dimension, just like Blaze was. But they were so different. The two kingdoms, Lunarion and Solaria, have been in some sort of war with each other for centuries, and there are still tense actions between them now and then. But the princess of Lunarion couldn't think of the differences between the rival and enemy kingdom. Her only enemy, at the moment, was the white hedgehog. In her version, he was bright white in darkness. One would think he would was an angel but he wasn't. He was, or would be, the demon and the cause of her kingdom's future fall.

Her teeth gritted against each other and her fists was clenching harder for each second. And her eyes were filled with her inner rage, so much that her usual beautiful sky blue eyes were turning a dangerous and evil purple.

"Where are you?!" She shouted and her hands, that seemed to have charged up energy this whole time, were slammed against the wall, causing it to collapse. Screams from the inside was heard and soon, the princess saw she had made a hole and looked straight into a family's living room with the human beings sitting in their sofa. She blushed in embarrassment, her glow disappearing. "Uhm… sorry about that." She said and speeded away to another alley, about four streets away from the destruction she just caused a poor family.

In her spirit ball, Tikal could see the whole scene taking place and she felt sad. She quickly followed the girl with a stern attitude. If she was in flesh and blood, Tikal would have looked pissed off. Even though Tikal didn't like these buildings that were made out of so fine stone, she still thought that breaking these people's houses was wrong. But Tikal felt that this hedgehog was confused and lost, so she would have to take action in this, otherwise who knows what she may do.

What seemed to surprise Tikal very much was that this hedgehog had this sort of Chaos Energy inside her.

_'Maybe that's how she made that dark purple ball of energy.'_ The apricot echidna thought as she followed the trail of invisible energy the girl left behind. _'But it's not Chaos Energy she is possessed with. Can it be the same energy that flows inside Blaze? What was it? Sol Energy?'_

No matter what kind of energy it was, Tikal was able to sense it from miles. And she kept following until she stopped at the sound of frustration. And she knew the voice. It belonged to the certain princess Nebula Raven Emerald, normally just known as Nebula the Hedgehog.

"Argh!" She shouted, taking to her head and squatted down. She then slammed her hands down on the asphalt. "Why can't I find you, hedgehog? Where are you?"

At this point, she felt like she was failing and letting her kingdom down greatly. She fought back the best she could for the tears that wanted to escape, but there managed to escape three and one sniff from her. There was actually a few but she held them. But that hurt her throat. She didn't cared; she wasn't going to break so easily. She wouldn't admit it but she was… lost.

"If you are lost, or if you are trying to find someone," She heard a voice saying from behind her. It was very friendly and helping so it calmed Nebula down. If it was anybody else, she would probably have struck him or her with an energy ball. She turned around and saw the orange echidna who wore green skirt and a white top with a green flower in the corner. There was something… spiritual and powerful above her. She couldn't put a finger on it; maybe it was the way she was dressed with those ancient and worn white sandals of hers, or the green bands that was wrapped around her dreadlocks. But whatever it was, it seemed to calm Nebula.

Tikal stepped forward and Nebula stood up. "I can help you if you need to find anybody." The kind ancient princess said with her one hand over her heart. Nebula squinted her eyes at the echidna.

"Who are you?" She asked and took a step backwards, hiding a charging purple energy ball behind her.

"Please. I am not here to harm you, so there is no point in readying an attack against me." Tikal said calmly, putting both hands behind her back. "My name is Tikal. What's your name?"

Nebula was shocked at that state and she looked down at the ground in embarrassment. How this girl was able to know that she was readying an attack, was beyond Nebula's knowledge. She was silent for a minute, just feeling the kind girl's sweet blue eyes staring at her. She was looking away and sighed. "… Nebula."

Tikal smiled and took around the princess hand. "That's a beautiful name. Nice to meet you, Nebula the Hedgehog."

Nebula smiled and turned her hand around in Tikal's before shaking it. Tikal stared at her. "I want to help you find whoever you are looking for."

The hedgehog rubbed her chin. In this desperate hour where everything was at risk, the purple hedgehog did think that a little bit of help could be useful. But her mouth said differently. "No thanks. I can handle this on my own." And then she walked away. However, she didn't reach far before Tikal stopped her. She was smiling, giggling actually. "What's so funny?"

"Don't be so silly. I can see and feel that you are lost. You are confused." She said harmonic. "You need someone who can help and guide you towards your goal."

"And I suppose you mean yourself?" She said and a rather insulting manner.

"I think I am the best you can find. I am the inner guardian of the _Master Emerald _after all."

Nebula widened her eyes. She knew about the Master Emerald. It is a powerful green giant Chaos Emerald that controls the seven emeralds of Miracles. If it also controls the seven gems of Hope is a mystery. But the Master Emerald has been on this floating island called Angel Island where an echidna is guarding it the most of his life time. That was the outer guardian. The inner one came after a catastrophe stroke the Echidna tribe, the Knuckles Clan, because of their greediness and desire for power. It was said to be an angel, a pure being echidna girl, who sacrificed herself to save the world. And she was this echidna? Tikal? No way!

"T-That's not possible." Nebula said shocked and stepped even more back. "The inner guardian sacrificed herself thousands of years ago to this water creature that was destroying the world."

Tikal was giggling and slight sweat dropping. "Uhm… yeah. That's me. I am the Angel of Pureness who stopped Chaos from destroying the world 4,000 years ago."

Nebula rubbed her eyes. She soon began laughing, stroking a tear away from her eye. "Yeah. Suuure, you are. Good luck convincing others about that lie of yours." She said, turned around on her converse's heel and began walking off.

"I am not lying. I am telling you the truth." Tikal said and ran after Nebula. However, a brick from above that landed behind the princess of Lunarion, made Tikal glare up and the purple hedgehog did the same.

Up on the roof, they spotted this boy who was standing on the edge of the roof. He glared on the one just in front of him. He was escaping a group of bullies because he stole something. But that was already in the past. The present was here and now, and here and now this grey mobian boy would try to jump over on another roof with a sack in his left hand. He moved back, before sprinting towards the edge. He jumped.

Below, both hedgehog and echidna gasped at the boy's action. And what a faithful action that looked like it would cost his life, because he didn't reach the other side and instead hit the edge head first, knocking him unconscious.

Nebula would have sprinted up to the boy's aid if she wasn't hit by panic. He came closer and closer. Suddenly, an order was given.

"Captive Light!"

She blinked her eyes in confusion. The unconscious cat boy was frozen in mid-air, only 4 meters from the ground, surrounded by this yellowish-orange aura. And that exact same aura surrounded Tikal's hands.

"How did you…?"

Tikal let go of the boy who landed right in Nebula's arms. The boy was slowly waking up and once his gaze went to the roof, he saw the gang on three bullies. One yellow hawk, a blue cat, and a brown antelope. They shouted and scolded at the running foe, trying to find a way down the roof. By the time they reached the surface, the grey boy was gone.

Nebula looked deeply into Tikal's cobalt eyes with shock. "You… you weren't kidding… were you?" Tikal shook her head in the sign of confirming the princess' theory. "I can't believe it. How can the inner guardian be outside the Master Emerald? Aren't you supposed to stay in there and keep the world at balance?"

"The world _is _at balance. With Chaos being good now, I can enter the material world and leave it whenever I want to." Tikal explained. She moved forward, taking her new friend's hand and dragged her out of the dark alley. "Now let's find this person you are looking for. Do you have any clues on how he looks?" She asked and let go of Nebula once she was sure she was following her.

"Well, he is a hedgehog and he is white. What I can recall is that he has these five pointy quills on top of his head."

Tikal stopped, a blush being visible on her face. "Oh. Him." She said and began playing with her dreadlocks. Nebula went in front of her.

"You know him?" She asked and took around the ancient echidna's shoulders.

"Well, not exactly knowing him, but I have seen him and he is a friend of my friends, which makes him a friend of mine too." Tikal explained, her gaze turning to the ground as her face turned pink. "His name is Silver and I only met him yesterday." She looked at the hedgehog, confused on what she wanted from him. "Why do you need to find _him_?"

Nebula opened her mouth to answer, but stopped. She needed to be strategic. "Well, I… I have something important to tell him that only he must know."

Tikal smiled and sighed in relief for unknown reasons. Her heart began pumping harder at Silver's face, which she couldn't explain why it did so. But it felt natural to Tikal so she didn't complain.

"Okay. Let's ask around." She said and dragged Nebula once more. "We can start in the forest since I know he and Shade were going there first."

"Shade?" The princess questioned in surprise.

"Mmm. Shade is a friend." She said and finally let go of the dark purple hedgehog girl. "Technically she is from the same time as me, but her people, instead of being wiped out like my people did, hers was trapped inside the Twilight Cage for 4 millenniums. It's a miracle that just she is here."

Nebula nodded her head in understanding, though she feared that getting to this Silver would be more challenging than she first thought.

...

It was all dark in this prison of the great airship of the Nega Carrier, and it was even darker in _her _cell. Glass surrounded her, fireproofed glass, and she could see right through the bluish object. But she didn't cared. All she cared about was to get away from this place… and back in to her lovers arms. A small blush was there, but it quickly disappeared. Her gaze went down the floor were her vision managed to pick up the details of it. It was hard and rough. It hurt to lie on it, let alone sitting on it.

She was sitting in the corner, all curled into a ball with her legs against her chests. Her arms were wrapped around her lilac furred legs, and her chin was on top of them. She dusted a small corn away from her shoulder before her hand returned to its former position. She closed her eyes and sighed out.

Her ears twitched and picked up the sound of metal moving across the smoother hallway's floor. They were heavy, and she had three choices she could choose of its owner. It would either be her own metallic copy or Silver's, but it could also be Nega's first creation on a copy-cat combat robot; Metal Sonic 3.0.

The footsteps stopped and Blaze opened her eyes. They narrowed in anger, small flames being lit in her clenched fists.

Metal Silver could see the amber orbs with their flare of fire through the blackness of the princess cell. He scoffed. Although he really wanted to torture Blaze by letting her starve, orders were orders and his master had told him that the pyrokinetic girl needed food so that she could survive. Nega needed her alive, whether his creations liked it or not.

He went down on one knee and opened this small hatch before pushing the trail of her meal in. It wasn't a feast, more like a poor man's lunch. Bread, a glass of milk, and an apple was served for her.

None of them said anything. For the time being, they stared at each other through the glass that kept them apart, minute after minute. Finally, without any words being said this whole time, the metallic white hedgehog moved his legs forward. The doors opened quickly up to each side before closing right behind him. Blaze stared at the door for what could be forever before crawling forward. She hissed and winched for even moving from her wounds, but then again, as ruthless and crazy her archenemy was, he had commanded his robots to stop her mad bleeding and take care of her bruises. It was a surprise to find herself, after hours of being knocked out, wrapped in with bandage around her body. Part of her left exposing leg was wrapped, and of course, her entire stomach and torso was bandaged too. Even around her cleavage. But it was all so that she could heal. Why Nega cared so much for her being in a good condition, was beyond her knowledge.

She took a bite of the bread. Her eyes widened before they turned into disliking the bread. She grimaced at the taste but forced the food down. Her tongue went out and she closed her eyes, showing clear signs that she was disgusted. She swallowed the milk that was at least up to standards. The apple wasn't half bad either. But as soon as she reached a worm whole, she placed the apple back on the trail where everything else now was. She pushed it all away.

"Clearly, you are showing no respect for our… hospitality, Blaze."

The princess gasped and widened her eyes before turning quickly around. Fire was dancing around her for a second before it disappeared into smoke. Her breathe was quickening at the voice. She knew it, she remembered the owner of it.

_'No. It's impossible.'_

He laughed. No, it felt like the shadows around her laughed. "I admire your sense of disbelief." He said. Liquid was crawling up the feline's leg as she was paralyzed momentarily. She gasped at the cold sensation and threw her heat at the substance. The black purplish liquid crawled back into the shadows and Blaze had tumbled to the ground, now crawling backwards and stopped as soon as she hit the wall. She was taking rapid breaths and her heart was pumping faster.

"Me… Mephiles?" She whispered as she pressed her body as close to the dark wall as possible. Without her notice, Mephiles was in perfect reach for her. Blaze was standing in the shadows, completely forgetting that it was where the demon was most powerful, but then again, her whole cell was consumed in darkness.

The liquid went around her wrist ever so slowly and unnoticeable, before it tightened quickly around her, pinning her against the wall. She yelped and fought back to get free, but to no avail. In a matter of seconds, black liquid dripped from the ceiling and down on the floor, creating a bigger dark purplish puddle. Mephiles formed into a rather… dripping Shadow. All slimy yet solid. His hand moved forward to stroke Blaze's cheek but she bite out after his hand, rage filling her eyes.

"Oh. A little angry we are, kitten?" He said and moved closer but stopped as soon as fire was in view. Blaze managed to get free by the help of Iblis' rage that was within her, melting the liquid that was around her, before throwing a flaming line across the dark being in front of her. He dripped even more, back into the puddle that quickly disappeared down the floor and his laughter was everywhere. "Foolish girl. Did you think that a small amount fire, which might be partly from Iblis, could end me?" Blaze moved around in circles, her hands in front of her, ready to strike any movements in the shadow. She fired at the small amount of liquid that snaked its way towards her leg. In that small amount of time she was distracted in, the demon stoke from behind and slammed her against the wall, pinning her arms against it. "I am the manipulating and strategic mind of Solaris. You cannot win with rage and raw energy of fire."

Flames formed once again in her palms and she managed to break free from his grip, but just barely, span around and send the shadow staggering backwards. Unleashing her full rage at the demon before her, her whole world became ablaze and only fire was inside the glass cell. Miraculously, and to the princess' huge surprise, Mephiles stood before her and dusted the remaining ashes off his shoulder. Her mouth dropped and she was in fighting position but was completely frozen.

She yelped before landing on her knees. The demon had managed to snake his liquid around and up her legs, forcing her to the hard rough floor. And mistakenly, Blaze used her hands to stop her fall. Quickly, the black substance wrapped her hands and went up her arms, keeping her to the ground. The feline fought a lost battle to get free, struggled and wrenched all she could.

"It's no use." He said and moved around the fallen princess. Her head snapped to the side where she met the cold green eyes that belonged to the monster. He gazed back and moved his gloved hand to her head where he stroked the side of her beautiful purple face. She wrenched even more by his touch. "The more you fight against my hold, the tighter it gets."

And right he was. She shouted as the liquid tightened around her, and it hurt greatly on her sore spots. Her eyes were shut tight and she stopped fighting when realising her pain was becoming worse whenever fighting to get free. She panted as soon as the grip loosened, shaking slightly. But she wasn't afraid; she never was. But it would soon change. But not now. That will be later.

Mephiles squatted down to Blaze's level, removing the hair that was in front of her eyes. She then felt his cold creeping hand rubbing her cheek in a... sweet manner?

Her eyes shot open, the fire within her glowing through her amber orbs. She hissed at the demon as she shot her body forward, her hands getting free from the ground, but they were pulled back again, against the wall, and this time, the liquid acted like rope. Keeping her in place. Her legs moved against her will, now they were being in front of her chest together, and the torn magenta dress' cut on the left fell down to the side, exposing her bare beautiful lilac furred legs.

Unable to move at all, her body locked in place, the feline princess just stared as the shadow moved back to the wall, back to the blackness. Her cell lost its small amount of light, the glass disappeared and everything was one colour. Black.

She looked around for any trace of the monster that trapped her. "Come on out, Mephiles!" She shouted. Her voice echoed in the emptiness. She became even angrier, though her heart began quickening. "I know you are out there. Come here and release me and fight me like that man you are, coward!"

He laughed at her courage and headstrong will. "I would rather not do that." He said and Blaze felt a chill running down her spin. Maybe it was because the demon traced his finger down her back. He could feel her slight hidden fear inside her body that made her shaking unnoticeable. He could sense that her feeling for fear was locked inside her someplace. And he wanted to release that fear. He could feel every shaking hair on her body and it pleased him to see her be scared. "And here I thought that it would take more to scare you, Blaze." He chuckled before the shadow vanished into thin air.

"I am not afraid of anything!" She shouted and began struggling against the chain like liquid. "Certainly not you. Argh! Let me go and I will prove it to you!" She basked all around, managing to move her legs just a little bit but didn't get free. She was trapped.

"Oh Blaze. You amuse me with your strength..." He said and out of nothing, his body appeared in front of the princess. He kneeled down and took her chin as he looked at her from every angle. "Funny. I've never noticed that you truly are a beauty, your highness. Not until now." She jerked her head free of his grip and tried biting him. He chuckled. "And a feisty one of that."

"Quit the flattering, Mephiles." She snapped, moving around and tried to move her head closer with rage showing up in her entire face language. "What do you want?"

"Well, if you so desperately want to know," he said as he was moving his solid body around the beautiful woman. "Then I need some clear informations that I know only you contain."

"Forget it. I am not telling you anything." She said as her head moved with his movements. "Like I forgot about the time you tricked me and Silver in killing Sonic. I won't make the same mistake again." Her eyes closed and sighed out. His hand moved over her head again. What was his problem? Was he playing with her, or what was it? Something within her desperately wanted the hand to go away, as if she feared it would do something to her.

"Well, you should fear it." He said from behind. Blaze's eyes were wide open and her breathing was quickening. A small moan escaped her as his creepy cold hand took around her private place and squeezed the breast. It hurt but a pleasant feeling came too. But she didn't like it. He whispered into her ear, his voice absolutely cold and seducing. "Who knows what I will do if you don't tell me what I want to know."

Her eyes became bigger. She turned her head and looked straight into his green while narrowing her own, trying her best not to show any emotions. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, you think so?" His hand groped her breast a bit tighter before moving downwards. She was gritting teeth and didn't want to show the slightest sign of pleasure. Her eyes shot open, she took a whining breath before moaning. His fingers played on the outside of her undies, clearly finding the most sensitive spot on the princess. He chuckled and moved closely to her ear. "Now tell me, Blaze. How much does it take to release Iblis inside of your soul?"

She made eye contact with him, her fire burning through her amber eyes. Her teeth were gritting against each other and she growled at him. He pressed harder, causing her to moan again against her will and she tried her best to keep it in. "Tell me, Blaze." He rubbed in circles even faster, causing the feline to take heavier and faster breaths.

"Never." She growled between the pleasant moans as she stared with squinted eyes that shot daggers at the hedgehog.

Mephiles smirked as he had long gone gotten hold of the feline's neck. Refusing to cooperate, the shadow began going further by moving his hand down in her undies.

But the princess was smarter. With quick reflexes, she delivered a powerful blow by throwing her head up at Mephiles' own. In the short moment of his concentrating loose, Blaze managed to escape of his liquid and sprinted away. In reality, Blaze was trapped with the demon in a dark void and so the room was endless.

Rage filled Mephiles' mind and he shot a vein of black substance towards the running princess. But he didn't go for her legs. The vein was thin and would have ease to go where he wanted it to go.

She felt a tugging at her abdomen area. More precise, it was at the fabric that covered it. The tugging got stronger and Blaze fell as soon as she felt her undies reaching her knees and they flew off. Once fallen on the ground, she tumbled around and stopped when she was on her back. The black liquid covered her once again, around her hands and upper arms, her legs up to her knees, and she was in the most awkward position ever with spread bent legs and an exposed abdomen.

"Now," Mephiles appeared on top of her, a seducing glare visible in his eyes. Blaze was beginning to shake, unable to get her legs together after feeing something stiff touching them. "Tell me, Blaze. Who stands closets to you, and how can I revive Iblis from your soul?"

..

The princess trembled in fear. Being pinned to the ground, revealing everything from what it would take to release Iblis inside her to the person she wouldn't lose, the person who meant everything to her, the person she loved, it was horrifying. But most of all, Blaze had been crying this whole time, fearing Mephiles. _Fearing_ him. But who wouldn't be scared to death if a man had pinned you down and had his manhood near your entrance, even feeling the stiff and hardness of it right there, and saying that he would let you go if you told him the information he needed? It was a woman's worst nightmare. It was Blaze's nightmare that was coming true.

She looked into his cold green eyes. He cared her cheek while having the most devilish smile upon him. He was close to her face and had start nibbling her neck, which caused the princess to moan between her low cries. He lied. She had played right into his hands and was now going to suffer greatly. If it wasn't because of his black and smooth liquid that pinned her arms and body down and keeping her legs greatly apart at the same time, Blaze would have fought back. But she was powerless.

Without any time to brace herself for impact, she felt the demon savagely forcing himself deeply into her. She screamed at her hymen's burst, at the ruthless and merciless power Mephiles forced into her. But her screams were silenced by the shadow's cold greyish lips and his force continued as he managed to get entrance to her mouth. Her taste was wonderful and he explored every part of her lovely mouth while keeping her head in place.

With that little bit of will Blaze had left, she bite his tongue as hard she could. Mephiles didn't scream. Instead, he had stopped shoving himself in, hissed as his mouth was dripping with black purplish blood and he shot daggers at the royal feline beneath him. Her eyes were soaked but she still kept a disgusted attitude on. But it vanished as quickly as it arrived. To her surprise, Mephiles went completely out, revealing his long hard manhood to Princess Blaze. She gulped and began breathing faster in fear. Her body was shaking but the dark shadow took his hands around her hips and held her down with force. He breathed harder, an unknown feeling of lust moving into his body. But it wasn't only his lust, his craving for giving the feline pain was greater.

Just as Blaze thought it was over, Mephiles shot his entire length into her opening, making sure to go very deep and hard into the feline to give her as much pain as possible. And it worked. Blaze cried even louder, her screams becoming more painful, more helpless for each thrust. Mephiles pounded even harder, deeper and faster into the beautiful princess, rage filling his entire being. And he hit a wall.

Blaze's eyes widened and her back arched greatly. Tears were flooding over her eyes as the demon kept hitting her wall and she cried and screamed, begged him to stop.

The liquid covered her mouth so nobody would hear her, but her eyes were flooding with water from the pain and her cries weren't silented. They were still there, but muffled by the covering of her mouth. While she was trembling with pain and fear, she heard groaning coming from the shadow. Apparently having sex with, or raping, Blaze was much more pleasant and enjoying than he had realized and his groans become more repetitive.

Blaze's eyes were open, but she couldn't take it. Her vision blurred, the sounds of his groaning becomming more distant for each second and soon her body became completely limp.

* * *

><p><em>Katerina Talks!<em>

_OMG! Mephiles rapes Blaze! Where is Silver when you need him the most? ;^; Nah, don't worry. He will avenge her in the next chapter. :)_

_So yeah, here it is. Chapter 9. I do hope you guys are liking this story because the action is only going up from now on. I have tons of ideas in my head of how to make this story to turn out and you know what? All these ideas are from my first idea when I began this story. I planned on making a complete "remake" of Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, just with the main roles as Blaze and Silver. But that idea is kinda slipping a bit away. Not entirely, but the plot is more dramatic and there is a lot more action and evilness in this story than the story of 06. _

_No references for the game in this round. Except for the part where Nebula meets Tikal. It's kinda like the meeting with Silver and Amy, only this meeting takes place at day time and Nebula hasn't seen Silver yet, where it was complete opposite with Silver when he met Amy. _

_Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I wanted to have Cream in the group and ask Silver that awkward question about having a relationship with her best friend. I just love to embarrass my favourite characters. :D_

_So what to talk about now? I hate Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. There is no challenge in it and the gameplay is just plain boring. Nothing new happens. _

_Katerina Oestergaard._


	10. The Rescue

**Elemental Flames **

_Chapter 10 - The Rescue_

* * *

><p>The four mobians had returned to Station Square, a far travel all the way to the United Federation, but they had to find some information on Blaze's disappearing. But one thing stood on top of their list: They had to figure out where they could find the remaining Sol Emeralds and track the seven gems of Miracles. Aka. the Chaos Emeralds.<p>

"Oi mate! This agency… Oi think it's a bit…" The raccoon, although being just as annoying as Charmy, had gotten permission to come along with the three Chaotix members. But no matter what Vector would have said, Marine followed troop, because she and Charmy were going through this together as a team. But Espio had unfortunately gotten the responsibility to make sure she didn't do anything risky and foolish. But it was 'an incompetent task he gave him' as he put it.

The bee looked at the girl beside him, buzzing around with his small wings. "It's awesome, isn't it? I love being with Espio and Vector! **Bee**ing a detective is so awesome! Get it? Beeing."

Marine gave a small laughter before smiling at the bee. "Yeah! But isn't this place a bit… low on crazy gadgets and coolish detective stuff?" The raccoon went closer to this older shelf, curiosity going in to her mind.

"Well, maybe. But that's why we don't do this detective stuff free of charge. We get money for it." He rubbed his thumb against his two longer fingers as a sign of the money they made. Marine smiled but her attention was fixed on a small black and purple figure and reached her hand forward for this small ninja sculpture. However, she yelped as she saw the figure being snapped out of her hand and was now floating in the air.

"Aiii! A g-g-g-gho-gho-ghost! This place is 'aunted!" As quickly as her small legs could carry her, she speeded for the door but Vector stood there and grabbed her collar as she was about to speed out on the street, screaming.

"Chillax, will ya?" He brought his head closer to the raccoon as he span her around. She looked terrified, shaking honestly and her small black orbs had shrunk. "Ya want the whole city to hear ya bein' crazy? There is no ghost here!" He turned his attention towards the floating ninja object and the raccoon followed his gaze. She gulped and pointed at the object, her hand shaking and she was speechless. "That's just Espio!"

And right he was. The purple chameleon returned back to normal, no longer being one with the environments. The girl blushed in embarrassment and turned her gaze to the floor. But now she was at least calm.

"I am sorry I scared you, Marine." He said sentimentally, and it caused her to look up and into his yellow orb. "But this small ninja sculpture means a lot to me. It's the proof of me becoming a full trained and skilled master of illusions. In other words, it's a gift from my master when I finished my training as ninja."

Marine gasped and was in a flash scanning the purple male before her. He sweat dropped. "Oh whoa! A real ninja!" She was an entire sunshine now, her face beaming with excitement. "You will be the perfect spy for Captain Marine and 'er crew! Welcome on board, matey!" She shook his free hand but Espio was totally confused on this little game the girl had and gave her right with pressure on.

"Sorry, kido. Espio is already the spy for my, uh I mean, our detective agency." The crocodile laughed as he went over to his desk and his laptop inside the small office beside the hall and living room-like… room. "Now, we ain't here for exchanging our only spy."

"Right! We need to find the Chaos Emeralds, right Vector?" The bee said and flew in zig zags around the room.

"Oi! Don't forget we need to find the Sol Emeralds too!" Marine added, her expression serious, yet excited as she was behind the adult alligator. "The emeralds some'ow disappeared when that ol' bushy moustached Doctor Nega showed up. Oi think it happened when 'e kidnapped Blaze."

The chameleon rubbed his chin in thoughts. "It would make sense, considering she is the guardian for them and if she is danger, that should mean that the Sol Emeralds would be in danger too." He said, his arms crossed and he went to the computer. "The most obvious locations would be inside the United Federations. I suggest we search here first." He turned the laptop around, a location marked red on the map over the entire country.

Vector went closer and shivered at the mere thought. "White Acropolis!?" He exclaimed and turned to the chameleon's emotionless face. "That's all way up north! In Holoska even! Have you lost your mind, Espio? We're suppose to find the emeralds and not kill ourselves!"

"Relax, Vector." His arms found their ways over each other and he swung his foot up on his left knee. "Holoska is not a death location. It is inhabited by both humans and mobians after all. Even Sonic's been there and survived quite much. It's not dangerous there."

The bee zoomed in front of him, his eyes being as glass. "But Espio, please! Not Holoska!"

"Ehh…" Marine said and rubbed her back ear in confusion. "What's wrong with this 'oloska place?"

The bee turned around, his eyes being big and surprised but he went in front of Marine in a matter of seconds. "Marine, it's the coldest place on the entire planet!"

At that state, Marine gasped, but not in horror. More like in excitement. Her eyes beamed with the joy of her 10-years-old spirit, beginning to bounce. It may have been cold, yes. But there was a special reason that this cold weather excited the young girl.

"Then what are we waiting for? To 'oloska we go!"

The bee's mouth dropped, his eyes being huge and he was totally fucked up. "Ma-Ma-Marine…" He stuttered slowly. "I just told you. It's completely frozen."

"Oi got that. But listen Charmy matey." She wrapped her arm around his neck, looking up into the ceiling with a stretched out arm. "Where there is coldness, there must be snow."

Everybody sweat dropped at her statement, even Charmy himself. But she wasn't completely out of her mind, since she always dreamed of watching snow and play in it. It was her child dream to experience the delighted snow.

The crocodile cleared his throat, snapping Marine away from her dreaming of building a thing people called a snowman.

"Anyway. Besides Marine's high wish for going to Holoska, we have to be prepared for the trip."

"What!?" Charmy quickly got a hold of Vector's brown jacket's collar and his feet were against the green reptile's skin. "But Vector… it's so coooold."

He took around the bees's head and held him out in the open air, though he was close to his face. "Relax Charmy. We won't go there bare skinned." He smiled at the bee before letting the child down in his feet on the solid floor. "We are going on a little shopping trip and buy us some warm clothes before leaving to Ice Age country."

...

Even though her cell was full of light from the bricks sandy yellow colour, she was still shaking. It was all because of _him_. That demonic shadow. She will never forget that night. Last night.

She kept as far away from all the shadows in the lighted cell as possible. Even her own shadow was scaring her now and then, fearing that he might emerge from it. But because of the strong morning light, the shadows were light and small. But still, she kept her distance from them and remained in the lights. She didn't even try to escape. Things were too traumatic at the moment for the lavender feline for any attempt on doing that. She was sniffling. Her head down in her knees and her once beautiful clean fur was a pure mess. No wonder. After what happened mere hours ago, anybody would be looking like her.

"Silver…" She whispered under her hurting throat. How she wished to feel his protection now. "Forgive me." She had told everything to the dark one. Who she loved, how much the white hedgehog meant to her and that possible he would trigger her sorrow if he disappeared. She loved him ever so much, but it was supposed to remain a secret to everyone. Especially because love is such a horrible feeling, yet you feel happy. Blaze knew that. But if she loved someone, her enemies would use it against her.

A small reflected light was at her closed eyelid. She opened her watery amber eyes, her world all a blur. She looked where the light came from and it came from her wrist. The golden charm bracelet was still there. She held her arm up, her head twitching a bit so it lay on her knees. It was beautiful. Filled with love almost. He had given it to her. Silver had. It meant more to Blaze than people could imagine. It was one of few things she had left to remind of him.

She took her other hand and held around her right wrist. Closing her eyes, she found a little tiny piece of hope inside herself, thanks to his gift. A small smile found its way before it vanished. Her eyes were filled with water, yet she hoped he would come before things went from bad to worse. She looked up, a small hole where the most light beamed in. It reminded her of her own sun. It always brought some hope and so did this sun do today.

...

The white male took to his head. A weird feeling that the feline has been in pain, and is still hurt, struck his head and he began feeling lightheaded. Blaze was hurt, badly. Maybe not physically, but she was scared. Very scared.

"Hey, Silver. You all right?"

He shook his head. Shade's voice was definitely bringing him back. "I don't know. I just… feel like something's wrong with Blaze."

"Is she okay?" The young rabbit questioned with worried eyes. "I hope nothing bad has happened to her." Her chao flew around the group, agreeing with his owner by saying his usual 'chao, chao' over and over.

"I hope she is." Silver said while having his hand on his neck, rubbing it. The bluish aura vanished around them as they exited the mirror of Dusty Desert. Sand was everywhere around them, and it was burning hot. Nevertheless, Silver kept his shirt on. He groaned. Out in the distance, he could see this pyramid of some sort, the entrance and everywhere around heavily guarded by Nega's white and red metalled robots. "How are we gonna get past? Sure, you were right, Shade. Blaze must be here if there are so many robots." He rubbed his chin, confusion hitting the hedgehog. "But how do we know where she is? Where should we start looking?"

Amy puffed him aside, causing the hedgehog to fall face first on the sand. He coughed and dusted the most of the sand of him, while trying to clean his tongue with his bare hand.

"Well, there is only one way to find out." The rosy female said, her hammer popping out of thin air and landing in her hand. She took her other hand around it and had the red object swung over her shoulder. "We are going to storm the place!"

Just as Amy was about to jump to action, Shade easily held her back just putting extra weight on the hammer; her finger was holding it down. The hedgehog fell on her butt, her hammer tumbling a bit on the soft fuzzy sand.

"Amy, we can't just attack out of nowhere." She said before helping the hedgehog to her feet. Afterwards, she picked up the red hammer. "We need to put up a strategy. Scanning the area and getting a map over the building will give us a better overview where Doctor Nega could be hiding Blaze." She then handed Amy her hammer. The rosy hedgehog took it, her expression being shame and embarrassment as her ears pointed downwards.

"Uhm… Shade?" The echidna turned around, watching Silver who still slightly coughed to get the remaining sand out. "How do we *cough* exactly do that? *cough, cough* None of us have a map over *cough* the pyramid."

The orange female smirked. Tapping on different silver buttons on her bracelet, black metal began forming out of them and covered her entire body rapidly. Now, being in her earlier Nocturnes Commander outfit, everything was covered on her and she looked like a soldier. One who would kill you at your place right this moment. The rabbit screamed and ran behind Amy.

"Cream! Shh!" Silver shushed at her as he and Shade managed to get them all behind a sandy hill. The robots, distanced away, could hear a small sound so they looked in that direction, but saw nothing. They returned by guarding their places, some patrolling around the pyramid's desert continued their posts. Silver looked at the scared bunny. "What was the point of doing that? You nearly blew our cover!"

"Silver! Don't be so mean to her." Amy protested, defending her sister friend. "It wasn't her meaning. Cream just became scared."

"Scared of what?" Silver gave back. He and Amy was now head to head, sparks being between them. Green and gold eyes were locked in a deep stare, the tension seemed to fill the air around the two hedgehogs but neither moved.

"Both of you stop!" A shrill voice called out. Amy and Silver both turned to see Cream running towards them. "You can't fight. Blaze needs us." The young rabbit smiled. "You're both really strong and Blaze will need us to work together."

Thinking about the fiery princess both hedgehogs hung their heads in shame before Silver offered his hand to Amy. "Truce?"

The pink girl laughed before pulling him into a bone crushing hug. "We're friends silly and I should have understood that you're upset." A distant look filled her eyes as she released him. "I'd be inconsolable if something happened to Sonic."

Gold eyes winced at the harsh light. It was a shame the glare from the savage sun on the red-gold sand wouldn't blind the robots in the same way. Cream's cry had forced them to stay still until the robots had passed and faded back to their set monitoring pattern. Crouched amongst the waves of sand dunes, the heat of the day had a minimal effect on the group, ensuring they would be fresh and strong for the fights to come. Shade was clearly a skilled commander but Silver was restless, the white hedgehog shifted and growled under his breath as he thought about the precious minutes that they had wasted while Blaze was in danger. Despite her armour, Silver could feel the echidna's eyes narrowing as she looked as him.

"Calm yourself Silver." Shade's voice demanded respect; it seemed that the return of her armour had also restored the nature of a leader on the echidna. "It is time to move. Follow me closely and stay amongst the hills for as long as possible."

As soon as Amy and Cream were on their feet, Shade leapt off across the golden, shifting sea of sand. Her dark armour should have made a sharp contrast against the light sand but the movements were so swift that the echidna appeared as a vague shadow as if a cloud was simply passing overhead. Despite his urgency, Silver gestured for Cream to go first intent on pushing the young rabbit aside if an attack occurred. The little bunny nodded and a strange look of determination fixed itself in her chocolate eyes. Despite the shifting sand, Cream sprung easily across the sea of sand with her light weight and into Amy's arms. Silver blinked in surprise, he hadn't realised the pink hedgehog had followed Shade already. Seeing the girls safely across made Silver's heartache to see Blaze amongst her friends and his own eyes narrowed. Knowing the importance of not being detected, Silver channelled his power to his feet in a crude imitation of his mentor's hover shoes. The makeshift skates made traversing the waves of sand easy whilst the isolation of his powers ensured the cyan glow was undetectable.

When he reached the group the frown on Amy's face was unmistakable. As Silver stared up at the ruins and the towering pyramid that eclipsed the sky he felt a similar look crossing his own features.

"It's not going to be an easy fight." Amy's eyes darted to Cream. "Are you sure you want to come?"

"I already told you, Blaze is my friend." The rabbit smiled. "If I can help then I owe it to Blaze to do my best."

The white hedgehog smiled as he realised how many people truly cared for the fiery princess who captured his heart. As he tugged at the t-shirt that stuck to his pale fur, Silver wondered absently if Cream's innocence and naivety had made Blaze think of him. As he thought of the beautiful feline and how she the danger she was in, the time traveller bit his lip. It was only a dim awareness of Shade gesturing ahead the made him break from the cover of the dunes to dash towards the tower of yellow stone. As the group approached sets of red and blue optics spun in their direction. Without breaking stride, Silver thrust a hand forward feeling a familiar wave of energy surging towards the steel sentinels. Three robots slammed against the ancient stone slabs of the pyramids, forcing a rain of loose rock and dust to surround the entrance. A blue blur shot passed the white hedgehog's ear in a whoosh of air and slammed into the centre of another robotic guard which slumped forward, destroyed. Cheese quickly flew back to his friend. A flash of light from Shade's energy blades reflected on the shattered remains of the robot that Amy drove her hammer through and the final machine fell.

Shade and Silver quickly scanned the endless sea of sand for further attackers whilst Amy and Cream crouched in the large stone archway that lead to the heart of the pyramid. Seeing that their enemies hadn't had the chance to raise an alarm, the group headed into the ancient structure. Tucked into small alcoves along the entrance, were grand vases with elegant artwork spanning their sides. Carvings were also faintly visible on a closed door ahead.

"This place…" Shade's voice broke the silence, "it reminds me of home."

"It certainly radiates with ancient power." Silver said as his hand stroked over the smooth wall with ancient history. He frowned. "No wonder Nega came here."

The echidna's voice was stony when she spoke next. "Doubtless this place is filled with traps, we must be on our guard."

Amy tightened her grip on her hammer and Cream clutched Cheese firmly to her chest. Silver nodded as he picked up the echoing thud of mechanical footsteps in the empty stone interior. Clenching his fist the psychic grinned. "Sounds like the fight starts now."

Shade and Silver combined their energy attacks to wipe out the first line of robots as they turned the corner and the hedgehog quickly grabbed the still sparking hulks of metal to provide a shield against the hail of bullets that raced to meet the rushing forms of Amy Rose and Cream. The powerful strike from Amy's hammer sent a soft rain of loose dust into the fight which provided a cover for the speeding form of Cheese as he struck the leading robot in the chest. The rest of the robots were disposed of just as quickly and the carved door opened.

Amy frowned. "Looks like someone wants us to have to fight our way in."

"Remove the element of surprise, smart." Shade muttered softly.

"If Nega thinks a few robots will stop me, he's wrong." Silver growled.

"Well we won't find Blaze out here!" Amy grinned and leant on her hammer by the open door. "I think it's time to do a little exploring."

The pyramid was filled with long sandstone corridors. The occasional group of robots confronted the group but Silver's concern lent strength to his powers and each group was dispatched in a whirlwind of psychic energy and hammer blows from an anxious Amy. Shade, Cream and Cheese made quick work of any that attacked from a distance. Whilst the combat combination was effective the group made slow progresses through the twisting hallways and deep chambers. Cream was forced to carry Amy and Shade across narrow pillars in some of the worst chambers when a torrent of hot sand poured through the cracked walls. Worst of all was the empty rooms; the small offset chambers that were opened when they defeated robots but lead nowhere.

"We're wasting time." Silver finally growled as the door opened on a small squad of robot's in a hidden compartment. In his frustration, the white hedgehog set a shock wave of psychic energy which shattered the robots and cracked the stone walls. Shade slipped in to examine the room.

"It's a dead end, Shade." Amy's voice was also filled with annoyance.

The armoured form of Shade laughed, "I think we may have a solution." In one black armoured fist, she clutched a piece of paper. Frowning, the others gathered round.

Finally Amy spoke. "Is that a map?"

Golden eyes widened in surprise, his finger pointing to one point of the map. "Look, holding cells."

"I bet that's where Blaze is." Cream's voice was soft and thoughtful.

"We have no time to lose." The time traveller's voice was filled with hope. "Let's go!" The small rescue team charged through the pyramid blasting their way through the groups of robots that appeared. Finally they reached the last corridor. As Silver flung the last robot into a vase, he frowned nervously. "Hang on, Blaze. We're coming."

The door opened, inside were holes in the floor and a ball. "What is it?" Cream frowned as she stepped closer.

"A puzzle, perhaps?" Even Shade's voice held a note of confusion. "I think we must place the balls into the holes."

"Right." Silver's hands already shone with energy.

Amy leapt into the tray with her hammer. "Leave this to us." The pair sent the ball rocketing across the passageway. It tumbled into a hole and reappeared beside the heroes.

"Amy, Silver, wait!" The young rabbit's cry echoed in the hallway. Shade tilted her head curiously. "I think we must work together to do this."

"Okay, everyone take a side." Amy quickly took charge. "Whoever is at the back pushes, the two on the side push it away from the holes and whoever is in the front gives directions." With everyone in agreement Silver took the back position. Quickly the ball veered to the left and Amy shoved it back; straight into Shade.

"Amy, be careful!" The echidna snapped.

"I was just trying to stop the ball, Shade!" The pink hedgehog pulled out her hammer.

"You could have sent me into the pit, Amy." Shade shoved the ball in Amy's direction.

Amy pushed it back. "We don't have time for this, Shade."

"A-Amy." Cream's voice was soft. "Why are the numbers changing?"

"Huh?" Silver gently nudged the ball and watched as the number changed from 5 to 4. "We can only move the ball so many times!" Four pairs of eyes tore away to look down the long corridor. "We'll never make it!" The time-traveller sent the ball spinning into the nearest pit and ran back to the start. Frowning, gold eyes darted between the ball and his friends. Silver snapped his fingers, a bulb lightening above his head and he smiled. "Each of you go and stand by a hole, only push the ball if you really have to. I'll guide it down using my powers."

"Right!" The girls chorused and ran off.

As she stood by the third hole, Shade called out to the hedgehog. "I know you're worried, Silver, but take your time."

"Right." The white hedgehog nodded as his powers sent blue waves of light dancing across the dull yellow walls. As Silver guided the ball past Cream the young rabbit ran ahead to cover the fourth hole. Halfway down Shade gave a corrective push and Silver felt his anxiety rise as the numbers ticked from 4 to 3. As Silver reached the door with his prize, Amy was forced to push the ball away from the wall to prevent a crash. The group held their breath as the ball rolled into the final hole. The door opened. A dozen glowing optics were waiting.

"Guess this is the right place." Amy tossed her hammer in the air as Silver charged a psychic blast. Cheese sailed overhead and Shade's energy disk impaled the leading robots leaving Silver and Amy to bowl over the rest.

"Come on!" The echidna waved the group down a dark corridor. Reaching the bottom a sea of optics greeted them.

"We must be close." In the dim light, Cream was only an outline. "Nega must be using these robots to guard the prison."

"You're right." A metallic voice echoed in the chamber as Metal Sonic 3.0 stepped forwards. "Pity they aren't the only robots here."

"3.0." Silver hissed and the shock waves of his building power sent some of the smaller robots sliding backwards. "Are you alone?"

A small familiar laughter came from the top. It was a copy of the voice of his love but in a robot's body. "Of course, he isn't." The metallic body pushed herself of the edge, landing in the darkness. "I wouldn't miss this chance to crush you." The flames of Metal Blaze illuminated the room as she stepped out of the shadows.

"You won't stop me reaching Blaze." Silver's clenched fist shone with power. Out of the corner of his eye the hedgehog saw flashes of light and realised that the girls had slipped away to begin dealing with the horde.

"Maybe we don't want to stop you." The glowing optics of Metal Sonic brightened. "We've already won."

Metal Blaze gave what may have been another laugh, standing by her partner's side. "You might rescue your princess but you'll never be able to save her."

Silver could feel the energy filling his body, his eyes narrowed and he flung out his hands. "I don't believe you!" The robotic copies slammed into the walls with a thunderous echo. Slowly they rose to their feet but Silver smiled at the trail of sparks that followed them. "You have no idea what I'd do for Blaze."

Suddenly the time traveller was forced to dive aside as a wave of flame raced towards him. Before Silver could move the powerful form of Metal Blaze, Metal Sonic 3.0 ploughed into him knocking him off his feet. Feeling his urgency rising, Silver used his powers to grab the wildly spinning robot. The strain of holding Sonic's robotic doppelgänger was making Silver's hands shake but a look of sheer determination filled his eyes. A burst of flame allowed him to see Metal Blaze looming over Cream and without hesitation, Silver launched 3.0 at his partner. Once more the robots struck the wall and Shade leapt out of the darkness, her energy blades slicing across the optics of Metal Blaze causing a wild, flickering light. Before Metal Sonic could retaliate, Amy's hammer came crashing down.

"Stay down." The pink hedgehog grinned.

* * *

><p><em>Katerina Talks! <em>

_Edited: I cute down this chapter because I thought that it would be best if I separated the parts. Also, because I want to make shorter chapters. _

_The ball of doom puzzle. Everybody loves the Dusty Desert stage with Silver. Hah! In your dreams. I hate that stage! It was the most difficult puzzle ever; I had to use a glitch to get through that stupid puzzle! Arghh! Whoops. That slipped out. Ehe, anyways. My partner thought it would be a nice idea to have that puzzle in the story since everybody remembers the stage from 06. And I really like it. What do you guys think of that part of the story?_

_Generally, what is your opinions on this story so far? I am for reviews and critiques so feel free to spam me with it. ^^_

_Katerina Oestergaard. _


	11. The Escape

**Elemental Flames**

_Chapter 11 - The Escape_

* * *

><p>The sound of explosion outside her prison cell, caught the feline off guard. She had relaxed after her breakdown, but only just. She had needed to calm herself and her emotions, it was one of many things she could thank her father for. Keeping calm, even though you've gone through horrible events, and keeping neutral for everything. Her mother was opposite and learned her to show feelings, show happiness and sadness. But now, her father's advice had been the best advice she had ever used.<p>

After Mephiles'… assault, the princess had being dealing with lots of mental unstableness throughout the five-seven hours she had been in the hot desert, and only the last hour had she been meditating - in order to calm her mind - in the corner of the dark even though it scared her to be near the shadows. However, her father's advice of facing and admitting your fear is the first step of getting rid of them.

_'Show no fear, show no emotions at all.'_ Those words, even though they were hard to commit, they were one of the best things she had ever remembered._ 'Be brave. Use your courage and show your enemies that you, as the guardian of the Sol Emeralds and the princess of Solaria, can handle even the toughest challenges. They should fear you, and not the other way around. Show these scums the royal manner of showing them out the door.'_

Another explosion and she heard the woman's voice echoing out on the hallway. Slowly opening her eyes, she felt her heart arch as if _he_ was here. _He_ was going to save her. But it would take too long for him to get here and rescue her. She had to take things into her own hands and escape this hole.

She rose slowly to her feet. More explosion was heard and they became higher as they neared were she was located. The beeping siren sounds of the alarms made her heart jump a few times. She sighed at the sound that intrudes were heading towards the prison area.

"Don't think that the fight is over, because it never is. Show them who you are and what you are capable of doing, and never look back." Fire danced around her body, the blazing light illuminating the sand blocks that was her cell in a red orange colour. She closed her eyes, her mother's voice boring trough her mind and she said aloud what she wanted Blaze to always remember. "Don't fear your powers. They are a part of you, and you should never be ashamed of who you are."

Her inner flame released, feeling an unknown energy she never had felt before. It was as if Solaris himself was powering her. His presence was there and had never been closer ever and it was there because of her hope, her determination; because she had begun the process of accepting herself for who she is.

A massive amount of energy radiated within her, ready to be released, and she illuminated with red fire with the colour of purple shown within them. And a massive explosion made stones fly everywhere, creating the largest hole man had ever seen as soon as her energy was released. And all kinds of colours made a mix of life from the flames. Blaze was impressed by her own strength and how much more powerful Solaris had made her pyrokinesis become. She smiled before clenching her hands and jumped up with one fist raised above her head. She had never been in such joy, and hope.

In no time, the alarm went off, higher than ever and it caught the princess off guard, but it brought her back to the here and now. And now the woman's voice came. Great. She jumped through the hole and speeded down the hallways of the ancient antic pyramid.

_"Alert: Prisoner has escaped from cell block C-17."_

..

_"I repeat; prisoner has escaped from cell block C-17. All systems lock down in process."_

The hedgehog spun his head towards the speakers, his heart racing past him. "Blaze…" He was worried yet relieved. Blaze had seemed to has escape on her own, but he just hoped she wouldn't do something too foolish. Knowing her so well as he did, Silver knew that when in rage, Blaze would be more stubborn than usual. And it feared him that it would be her downfall.

"Silver! Some back up, please!" Amy's voice echoed through his mind, and he realised he had dazed off. "WATCH OUT!" She screamed but it was too late. The metallic upgrade of Metal Sonic, 3.0, send an uppercut right to his chin, sending the mortal hedgehog skyward. A crater was formed around his body as he collided with the yellow historical ceiling that had paintings of the great years of the Echidnas.

He grunted before the gravity send him downwards. Beneath him, the floor was speeding towards him. Before colliding with that one as well, Silver made a flip in the air a second before hitting surface. He breathed a few times in and out, heavily, before wiping the small blood away from his mouth. He raised his gaze up at his opponent, a smirk showing up. The black robotic hedgehog narrowed his red optics in confusion.

"So you are finding pleasure in pain?" He chuckled evilly at his own joke. "Well, I will make sure to give you devastating pain to feel!"

As the robot charged up a series of energy, the smirk on the white being's face was only increasing. He shot forward just as 3.0 released himself in a Sonic boom. They came closer and closer in mere seconds, but just before they collided, Silver had his hands pointed out and pushed them down on the black hedgehog's face, swinging himself over in a somersault. But the robot didn't have time to stop and turn around; he had too much momentum and collided with the rosy rascal's Piko Piko Hammer. Sparks and wires escaped his head but he was still intact and rose to his feet as his eyes dimed a few times before returning to a strong red colour.

The pink one frowned, panting for air actually. "How much can these guys take?"

"We are designed to be superior to you in every way." Metal Blaze's optics now contained only a single light but the metallic feline advanced without hesitation.

"Cheese!" Cream cried out as she saw the robot closing in on the rose hedgehog.

The little chao shot forward like a bullet when he was suddenly surrounded by a glowing energy, Metal Blaze laughed and sent the small creature flying towards Shade who was trying a sneak attack. The force of the psychic blow sent the echidna hurtling headfirst towards a wall in the sandy coloured chamber.

Silver flung his arms out wildly, psychic energy flying to catch the warrior. "Shade!"

Gently lowered to the ground the ancient echidna groaned. "I appreciate the help."

Across the room Amy stuck Metal Sonic 3.0 with her hammer. The robotic hedgehog was sent flying but flipped before he reached the wall, 3.0 kicked off the fragile stone, kicking up a cloud of dust. The metal hedgehog formed a rapidly spinning ball and struck the pink hedgehog in the chest. Amy collapsed back, a wild desperate gasp for air escaping as she hit the floor. Panting the hedgehog girl didn't get up

"Amy!" Cream rushed forward to defend her friend, Cheese circling the pair wildly.

Growling in anger, Silver slammed his palm on the carved stone floor sending a shock wave of psychic energy across the room which knocked the robots off their feet. Silver's hand shot to his head as he fought a torrent of exhaustion from the excessive battling he'd had to endure. Shade's energy disks whirled wildly as she slashed at the two robots, sparks from lose wires struck the black armour but bounced off harmlessly. Suddenly, Metal Blaze sent out a powerful, swiping kick that sent the warrior echidna crashing to the floor. A wind filled the chamber, Silver winced and felt his feet sliding back against the force of the gale. Cream screamed as the gust caught her ears and tore her from Amy's side. Too tired to continue, Cream sat in a daze by the wall when the wind dropped her. Gold eye's widened as he felt the racing form of Metal Sonic 3.0 stop before him. Metal Blaze quickly appeared by his side and laughed wildly, using a copy of Silver's own psychic attack to throw him back against the wall. The hedgehog winced at the blow to his already battered body, the loosened dust entering his lungs and sending him spluttering.

"How pathetic!" Metal Blaze spat as she moved closer to the stricken time traveller.

The red optics of Metal Sonic 3.0 shone with amusement and the robot laughed. "Seems the heroes are too tired to fight."

The robotic cat joined the laughter. "Unfortunately for them we don't tire."

"You can burn." An icy voice growled from behind.

Six sets of eyes rose to the narrow doorway where a lean, graceful feline form stood outlined by flames which danced and weaved around her.

"You won't hurt my friends." Amber eyes seemed filled with an unearthly fire as the flames raced towards the robotic pair. Their metal armour melted where the fire touched it. A series of exposed and frayed wires sparked as the flames died down.

Gold eyes met and Silver gasped. "Blaze!"

The feline didn't respond, her mind under the control of Solaris yet her actions were from her subconscious. No reaction came from her either when she watched the hedgehog rise from his stance, running eagerly towards her. The change of her flaring orange eyes to being slightly reddish, didn't stop him from approaching her. She was okay, and it was all he needed to know.

"Blaze." He said again before pulling her into a hug. Her body suddenly became limp for a second, the power and presence of the eternal sun god leaving her body. She collapsed into his arms, and he was struggling to keep her up. "Blaze?" He whispered into her ear before pulling back. Her eyes were closed but they were slowly opening, and she made direct eye contact with her lover.

Her mouth was dropping, her eyes blinking before she stroked Silver's peach muzzle with her thumb. She smiled and sighed in relief before burring her face in his fur. "Silver." She felt his arms going around her again, pulling her even closer to him. She felt safety in his embrace, protection. And she felt warmness and lots amount of love from the white hedgehog.

The others were slowly returning to themselves, taking in what was happening in front of them. Cream was the first to break the silence when she realised who was in the time-traveller's arms.

"Blaze!"

The joyful cry made the pair break away and the feline looked over the hedgehog's shoulder. She smiled even more. "Cream…" She went down on her knees but she wasn't going to sit and accept the rabbit's hug; she would go over her head if she did so.

The bunny had wet eyes when she jumped into the open arms of her best friend. And she never felt such a loving and friendly hug coming from Blaze. There was something odd about her whenever she was around the silver hedgehog but she couldn't put a finger on it. Feelings were involved between them, that's how much she knew but she didn't know how strong they were, but they were very strong. She could tell just by the sweet looks Silver gave the princess as she hugged her younger friend.

Once Amy joined the hug, Blaze began to have moisty eyes and dried them quickly off.

"That was some attack you pulled on those two, Blaze." The ancient echidna stepped forward, her helmet raised and a impressive smile was upon her lips. "I've never seen such power." Her glare went from the melted robots to the princess herself. "How did you do that?"

A confused and clueless expression struck the feline and she rubbed her arms. "I… I don't know. But I felt this energy once I start believing in myself." Her gaze went from the ground to her friends. Silver was standing beside her, giving her confidence in continuing. "It was as if… Solaris himself powered me up. I didn't know what I exactly did against them, but I am sure he helped me beating them…" Her gaze went from person to person. "… and saving you."

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she felt warmness crawling to her white muzzles. She began stroking her hair.

"Well, considering Iblis is part of you now and all, I would say that it makes perfect sense." His hand moved to her far shoulder and his smile was very noticeable.

She smiled herself and moved her gaze to his. "I guess you are right, Silver the Hedgehog." She gave a small giggle before turning around. "Someone's coming. And by the sounds of it, it's almost an army."

"How can you be sure?" Amy asked, she standing by her sister's side. Cheese began acting stressed, as if he was panicking. He jumped up and down, telling everybody that danger was coming. He could feel it. Blaze pointed at her ears as a sign that she could hear danger from distance. "Oh. Right."

Shade face palmed and frowned. "How could we have been so stupid? The alarm!" Suddenly, the wall crashed down in front of them, the end of the hallway now having an entrance.

"Have no fear, Amy Ross is here!" She said cheerfully as she had her Piko Piko hammer in her right hand and swiping over her shoulder. She winked with a smile before pointing out the exit. "Well, are you just going to stay there? Hurry up before Nega's mechs shows up!"

Gasps escaped the purple girl and she took to her chest. Suddenly, an impulsive negative energy hit her, the Flames of Disaster roaring and going crazy within her, and she collapsed to the ground.

"Blaze!" Silver panicked and went down on all four beside the feline's trembling body. She was hissing and wrenching all around on the sandy ground and in not time the others joined the future hedgehog.

"I don't get it!" Shade said as her scanner was going off the charts. "Something is trying to control her and get out but is unable to do so. Something living!"

The hedgehog looked down on her, feeling a familiar evil warmness radiating in and around her. "Iblis." He whispered as she stroked his hand over the pained cat.

"Who?" Cream asked in concern as she was leaning over Blaze who was now sweating and trembling. She groaned highly and took around herself, curling into a ball.

"The Flames of Disaster that's what's. Also just known as Iblis, the raw and uncontrollable power of Solaris himself. Blaze is the vessel to him." He looked up, worries filling his mind. "There must be something that makes him go crazy. But what… Or who…" He trailed off, his eyes becoming huge. He shook his head. "No. It's impossible."

A cold laughter made him freeze, his world coming to a hold. "How ironic fate is at times, isn't it, Silver?" A form emerged from the shadows, dark and slimed in the beginning but rising a solid dark hedgehog form.

The white one growled, his energy flaring up and the pink one had her hammer tight in her hands, a dead glare visible in her eyes. But the echidna and rabbit was confused on the two hedgehogs behaviours.

"Shadow?" Shade asked, having her eyes narrowed and guards down. Her eyes widened and she just barely dodged a purple ball of destruction. Her blades were out in no time and her helmet back on. "Who are you?! Explain yourself immediately!" She commanded as she stood there in fighting position.

"Don't ever compare me to Shadow the Hedgehog. I may have taken his shadow a few years ago, but I don't look like him." He examined the echidna, before going to fallen feline. He smiled at her pain. "I'm Mephiles, Mephiles the Dark."

A gaps came from the youngest of the group. "You're Mephiles?" His attention turned to the frightened little girl. "You are the one who killed Sonic?"

The pink hedgehog growled, her hammer readied. "You're gonna pay for what you did to him!" She leapt forward, shouting highly as she came closer and closer. But once she swung her hammer at him, he kicked it away and send a dark ball straight to Amy's guts, knocking all the air out of her and sending her rolling all the way to the wall.

"Pathetic fool. Trying to hurt me with your silly hammer. You won't be able get far with that."

Suddenly, a rock was flung towards him and it surprised him to see the slight teal glow disappear as soon as it was spotted. He put his hands together and shot them forward, splitting the coming rock in two pieces before they collided with the ground. He turned around to see a raged hedgehog, picking up dozens of fallen stone pieces before hulling them towards the dark shadow. Once seen that Mephiles kept avoiding and only came closer, his eyes glowed a strong cyan colour, his body being illuminated with re-found energy, and Silver slammed his hands down to the earth. It was if an earthquake hit them, because the whole hall began shaking and rocks fell down. But they were targeted at the demon, who now lay buried under demolished ancient history.

The hedgehog panted for air, his hatred against Mephiles only increasing at the sight of his ugly face. At the sound of rustling behind him, Silver watched as Shade stared in awe at him with mouth open while Amy was slowly returning to herself. Cream and Cheese, on the other hand, had been behind the echidna in fear of the future male's sudden outburst of rage and hatred. Groaning caught their attention, and all pair of eyes went to Blaze's slight shaking body. She was trying to stand, but the pain from the uncontrollable raw energy was too much, but she kept pushing herself up.

Silver went to her side, stroked her cheek before helping her to her feet. She was relying heavily on him to stand there as she held her hand around her chest. It hurt, badly. She pushed herself closer to him, putting her head in his smooth fur. But she felt a coldness crawling up her legs. She knew what it was but at the time she realised and would have reacted it was too late. She was pulled down, and towards the standing shadow. She yelped and reached a hand forward but he was too far away and she was pulled quickly towards the demon.

"Blaze!" Cream screamed and found some courage as she and Cheese speeded to the feline's rescue. Shade had her blades out and jumped forward while Amy had her hammer ready. But the attack to rescue the fire princess was thrown into the ashes right away. Blaze was against Mephiles body, a dagger, which came from the black substance of his, was at her neck.

"I think it would be wise if you barked off…" An evil grin was on his lips as he stroked the knife across her cheek, a cut appearing and the cat hissed at the blood that slowly streamed out. "Unless you want your precious princess to suffer a painful death."

"You wouldn't do that!" Amy gave back and took one step forward. But as soon as she did, the knife closed in on Blaze's throat, the feline still being in pain from Iblis craziness.

"Oh I would, Rose. I would." He began walking backwards with Blaze, her legs beginning to feel again. The others just watched as she was dragged more and more towards the shadows, horror falling in to their hearts.

Blaze was shaking as soon as her pain stopped. She was in a panic state, and her friends were a blur to her; she didn't even notice them. She was Mephiles' prisoner once again and she feared the worst. But suddenly, she felt that flame from earlier lighting again, an energy refilling her entire being. And Mephiles could feel the powers Solaris granted the guardian. And in one second, Blaze began glowing a red colour. Flames danced around her and the being that held her, the heat beginning to hurt Mephiles. But as expected for Blaze, Mephiles kept his hold. In one strike of blazing flames, the dark one was knocked backwards while Blaze was flying forward, finally being separated from the demon.

In one desperate look back, she saw the shadow grunting before he began moving, and so did she. She ran to her friends, tears streaming down her face, and then she was back in her lover's arms, her face in his fur. The cries escaped her and she was scared. Scared for Mephiles. And nobody had expected for Blaze to escape Mephiles, yet alone cry in horror and… shaking! She was shaking in Silver's arms. Something happened to her, something that had to be Mephiles' work, and it made Silver angry.

"You little pest!" Mephiles growled, his eyes having that dangerous, wicked, green glow in them. "Looks like I didn't put you in your place last night. Your punishment will be much worse now!"

His black purple substance struck forward, past Amy, past Shade and last Cream and Cheese. He was going to take his prey with violence, and nothing was going to stop him. The princess was in his reach and he grabbed out to get hold of her. However, something stopped his liquid only centimeters away from the feline in the male's arms. And one hand was around her body while the other one had easily gotten hold of the black tentacle. And to Mephiles' surprise, a weak teal-greenish glow became visible in Silver's eyes, his marks glowing that same colour as well, and he crushed the tentacle that was in his hand.

"What did you do to her?" He growled lowly, his rage on its way to get over his head. An evilness was visible in Silver's glare, almost a sign of death, that he was going to kill the hedgehog before him. Mephiles smirked, his sharp teeth going out, and that challenging look came to his eyes. There was a chuckle under his breath, something that made Silver even madder. "WHAT DID YOU DO!? WHAT DID YOU DO TO BLAZE?!"

His sudden outburst of rage made Blaze break apart from him, her gaze fixed on his glowing eyes. Her once protective love was losing control and about to become a walking destructive monster. No, she didn't want to believe that. She hurried to him, hugged him as tight as she could in hope it would calm him down. It helped a bit, but Silver was still mad. However, feeling Blaze shaking and hugging him so tight made him calm down a little bit. But just barely.

"Oh, I didn't do much." Mephiles' gaze went to Blaze and he met frightened amber eyes. His glare made her hid behind Silver, her hands being tightly on his arm. His anger returned slightly and he stared deadly at the demon who kept his glare at the horrified feline. He went to meet the golden orbs of the white hedgehog. "Except having a so called sexual experience with her."

Everything froze for the hedgehog and his eyes widened. A glass shattered in the background of his head, and he was in complete shock. The girls had the same experience. They just gasped lowly under their breaths, their gaze going from the demon, to the white male, to the silent crying Blaze, who was holding tightly to her love's arm. But suddenly, she felt a dark energy flowing from him, watching his powers flare up and his fur turning into a sudden dark grey colour.

"You raped her." He growled under his breath his eyes becoming a bit darker than usual as they narrowed at the demon meters away from him. He was waiting for it. "YOU RAPED HER!" His eyes vanished and all that was visible was whiteness and his rage having its control of it.

Blaze was scared, and shocked as she saw Silver leaping on to Mephiles who managed to dodge and turn crystalized. His mouth disappeared but they were both gone in a flash of Chaos Control. But the fight was taking place outside, the place beginning to shake and crumble. Shade took around Blaze's arm before running out the hole Amy made earlier.

..

The now dark grey hedgehog gave a wild snarl. His eyes were fixed on a murderous lock with his crystallised opponent. Suddenly Silver charged forward and lashed out at the immortal god.

The demonic hedgehog laughed and threw his enemy backwards. "Your anger won't help you Silver, it only makes you blind!"

Silver felt his feet lifting from the burning sand, although he had no real awareness of the biting shards. The exhaustion that had relentless persisted throughout the time traveller's exploration of the pyramid was gone, rage filling the hedgehog's beaten body with a primal power. There was only one outcome the grey hedgehog could accept and that was the demise of the vile creature that had dared to touch the precious, flaming jewel that was Blaze. The thought of those cold, unearthly hands caressing the innocent, delicate, shinning fur of the princess caused Silver's powers to flare wildly, whipping the sea of sand into a fierce gale.

Mephiles laughed again. "Is that the best you can do?" The former god began to charge up a dark energy attack. "I'll happily crush you to have Iblis!" The force of the blast, so similar to the one which killed Sonic, sent Silver flying into a pillar of stone which cracked and toppled over.

The furious time-traveller dropped to one knee. Mephiles smiled and closed in on his opponent when a strange sound caught his ears. Silver's gaze turned upwards revealing that he was laughing wildly.

"You think I'll let you touch her again?" Suddenly Silver lifted Mephiles from the floor in a psychic choke-hold. "I'll never allow you to hurt Blaze ever again!"

Suddenly the psychic flung his hands wide and the former god was sent sailing into the pyramid wall. The physical manifestation of darkness crashed against the burning ground and his serpentine eyes narrowed.

"Perhaps you are more than a simple toy," The crystalline being charged another attack, "But I won't be slain by a mere mortal!"

The dark purple blast rocket towards the levitating form of Silver. The time-traveller refused to move and laughed wildly before launching his own attack. The two bolts of energy collided in a wild explosion of raw power and large chunks of the stone ruins were blasted away. A crater formed where the sand was propelled away and at its heart was Silver, his now dark grey fur blazed against the wild blue energy which circled his form like a snake. The very air around him shimmered with power.

The psychic's eyes narrowed. "I'll end you!"

A tidal wave of blue energy rose defiantly above the pyramid, eclipsing the golden sand with it's blinding glow. A single gloved hand pointed at the crystalline hedgehog and the energy surged forward in an endless torrent. The sheer force of the energy sheered the top and one wall from the pyramid and crushed the surrounding ruins to dust. When the light dimmed the area before the time traveller was flattened and destroyed. Nothing stood before him. Only the small mid-day shadows from shattered stones marred the golden sea. Mephiles was gone.

The roaring ball of fire that had filled Silver upon learning of the violation of his love fell silent. The dark power that filled his body dispersed. Silver floated above the burning sea, the pale fur gleaming in the sun and his eyes filled with triumph. However, the devastation around this area of the desert made him feel horrible. He was the one who caused this. It's his fault. His ears lowered and he clenched his fists. He turned around with the triumph of Mephiles' disappearing. Hopefully, he wouldn't see him again and more important, now the hedgehog was sure nobody would touch Blaze, use her, ever again.

His mind was split. On one side, he had made sure to end Mephiles, or at least make him on the run, but on the hand, he had turned into a monster when fighting against him. It must have been terrifying to see him in that state. He was sure Blaze was heartbroken after his outburst of pure anger and hatred.

From a far, she could hear the battle stopped and she turned around. There he was, that unmistakeable cyan glow following him. She was relieved he was back to normal, but she also knew that things wouldn't be same as before. The girls called yet she ignored them. Once seen in which direction Silver was nearing the surface, she set off in a sprint and nobody stopped her; Shade, Amy, Cream and Cheese knew she needed to speak to Silver alone.

From her distance in the dry sea of sand, Blaze spotted the silver hedgehog standing in the middle of ruins, heads down in shame. His fists were still clenched together as his back was turned against the outside world. But the princess didn't cared; he was all right and back to normal.

Her feet brought her forward and the sounds her boots made when moving over the fuzzy sand made Silver's ears raise. He twisted his head to the side, a glim of the princess made his heart pump faster but he chose to look at the ground instead. Her arms found their way around his chest and hugged him from behind, tears escaping her as she pushed her face down in his shoulder. The sniffles were inevitable. Her grip was tight as if she feared she would lose him.

"I should've been faster." He said in melancholy. Her grip loosened a bit, her red eyes looking up at his depressed expression. "I could've saved you from all that pain he gave you. But I was too slow. I'm sorry."

Her eyes became more watery and she closed them as her embrace became tighter. He was hurt and blames himself for incident. "Don't be, Silver. Please. It's not your fault."

"But it is, Blaze." He broke free of her hug, the feline now standing alone. He sat down on stones and the princess moved closer to sit beside him. "I didn't manage to save you in Soleanna. And look what I've done. You were… were… rape by that monster!" His anger returned, tears escaping his clenched eyes.

The guardian princess sat beside him, taking his hand away from his face. She then stroke his muzzle and tried calming down. "I know." Was all she really said. It didn't help but something else was on the princess' mind. She moved closer, placing her head in his fur and her arms moved around him. "Please don't do that again, Silver." He was confused and looked down. "That way you turned evil… Please. I can't bare watching you that."

The hedgehog signed and wrapped his arms around her. His eyes closed. "I promise, it won't happen again. Because I won't leave your side again." His grip tightened and Blaze opened her eyes, an unmistakable hurt and determination in the albino's golden eyes. "I'll protect you no matter what happens. I promise."

* * *

><p><em>Katerina Talks!<em>

_Well, I edited the chapters so that it's not chapter 10 but a new chapter. The reason why is because I want to shorten my chapters an because I thought it was better this way. Sorry about this. _

_I am really not in the mood to write trivia now so I will do it any day. _

_Katerina Oestergaard._


	12. Confession

**Elemental Flames**

_Chapter 12 - Confession_

* * *

><p>It was bitter cold. The raccoon had taken her words back by now as she was freezing like hell. Sure, the sight of seeing the snow live in action was breath taking, but she was going to develop a cold if they didn't start a campfire.<p>

"Yipee!"

The bee, although being pessimistic about this at first, was enjoying the coldness, but he wasn't cold. In fact, he was sweating. The joy of playing in the snow and sliding all over the place had heated him up.

Snow brushed up on the girl's fur, making her squeal in shock. But the bee was just laughing. "You were right, Marine. It was the best idea of coming here!" And then he fell backwards on purpose, beginning to make a snow angel. His cheeks were all red and cold sweaty, but he was full of life.

Her teeth clasped against each other in a fast pace, clear sign of being cold. "A-A-Actua-ly-y m-mate, O-Oi t-t-tak-ke it b-b-b-ack-ck."

The bee turned up in confusion. He had no idea why his best buddy now regretted coming here; the looks of her didn't even ring any bell. But the chameleon had seen it long time ago. She was used to warm weather and just a simple coat wasn't going to warm the raccoon up. He went closer to her, and placed his thick brown fluffy winter jacket around her, the warmness calming her down.

"Take this on. It's colder than you realise." He said as he helped her getting it on properly. It was too big for her, of course, but she stopped shivering like an ice cube and Espio was only in a green scarf, black puffy pants and a long sleeved black sweater on. Oh, and his usual boots and gloves too.

"Whoa. Thank ya, Espio. You're the best." She said and ran after the bee, pushing him into the snow and start playing with him. The chameleon smiled at the girl before moving closer towards the beige coated green crocodile who was buying a map over the forest. He had also bought a snow scooter, would have bought two if he had more money on him, to travel through the forest's many hills. At least he had a pair of skies with him. That way they all should be able to search together. More or less.

"So Vector? Is everything ready?" The purple one asked as he crossed his arms, slight shivering.

"Hmm?" The crocodile turned around, almost not hearing what his companion asked him. "Oh. Sure. Yeah, everything's ready for our trip through the Ice Cap and Cool Edge zones. We should be at White Acropolis in a few hours."

The shopkeeper was in shock when he heard the last word. "Wh-White Acropolis?" He stuttered and the two Mobians turned their attention towards the pale human. "Keep away from there! It's dangerous. Whenever one of our villages, or any other person, took a step in on that territory, they always came back half alive or didn't come back at all."

The man was definitely scared. Even though he barely knew these two people in front of him, he didn't want anybody to suffer.

The chameleon gave a "hmm" as a response while rubbing his chin. "Interesting. Can you tell us why they don't come back or just do it barely?"

He shook his head. Not because he didn't know why, but because it was a horrible story. "It happened a month ago. My family and I were going to visit our friends near that place, but we had to go through a forest…" He stopped up, his expression showing horror and cold sweat was running down his forehead. "We got lost and came across this huge fortress. We decided to go around it since it gave us bad feelings, but once we reached the front entrance, everything just turned into a nightmare." He shook his head, his head in his palms and tears running down his face. "I lost my wife and my son and daughter were badly damaged. I barely got them away from those robots and -"

"Robots? What did they look like?" Espio asked eagerly, having a bad feeling that a certain egg was involved.

The man was confused but answered the guy anyway. "Well," he dried his eyes off, snivels escaping him. "They were tall, taller than I am," and he was quite tall. About 2 meters. "And then they were red and white. They had those guns as hands, one bigger than the other, and then there was this white bulb on their metal chest. They did walk quite slowly but their bullets killed my beloved wife." He broke down, crying into his hands.

The crocodile was in thoughts. "It must've been Eggman's. Sir, did the robots have this logo with an egg shaped head man's with glasses on?" He nodded. "I knew it! We must be close, Espio. I bet ya Eggman got those emeralds we need. Let's go!"

The ninja bowed in front of the man before speeding towards his leader, a shadow really.

The two kids heard motor noises coming towards them and looked up on to the hill. There stood Vector the Crocodile, in a snow scooter and with snow goggles on. He came down to their level, brushing snow up on them. "Well kidos, hop in."

They were surprised but smiled as they both jumped into the sidecar, and there was enough room for them both. "Oh yeah! This'll be fun! Just like beeing on my Jet Ski back at home!" The girl exclaimed as she bounced in the small car. Once started and they were up and away, laughter was escaping the two kids. The chameleon was right behind them, pushing himself forward with skis the old detective bought.

The four mobians vanished, out into the desert of ice and snow; and the shopkeeper was just staring after them, horror and worries filling his hurt soul.

...

It was afternoon, the sun was high and the wind blew so gently over the hills. It couldn't have been at a better place to have a rest. After hours of levitating with the princess in his arms, Silver had to land at the grassy hill. They were still far from Soleanna town, but they deserved a break. After the confession of the assault Mephiles did on the princess the other night, the future hero turned into a dark form, a form which was know as the Dark. He turned into Dark Silver, a rampaged monster who was filled with anger of the hurt the Demi god gave the princess. It was only luck that prevented him from destroying anymore of the base they were fighting at. But it was past and Blaze forgave him, only having the wish that he wouldn't turn into Dark Silver again. And he promised he wouldn't; he would be there to protect her so nobody would be able to take her away from him.

The two mobians were in each other's arms, lying on the glowing green grass. Her face was in his fur and she felt so happy being so close to him that she smiled. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder while the other one was behind his head, and he felt warmer in their position. But another warmth made him curious, one that was under the fabric of her torn magenta dress, but he decided to ignore it and kept stroking her fine furred shoulder. None of them knew why they lay this way, it just felt so natural for them so they kept their hold around one another. Neither wanted to move; this position was heaven for both parts and they felt so comfortable and complete.

"Remember that time where father met you?" The feline asked, her finger stroking his far shoulder in circles. Her smile was there the whole time, and her eyes half open.

The hedgehog gave a small chuckle. "If only I could forget it." His eyes grew a bit bigger and he sighed heavily. "You being with an orphan the whole time sure did tick him off." The princess shuffled a bit closer, wrapping her arm around his chest.

"Yeah." She said as she snuggled into his fur. A blush crawled to the albino's muzzle. There was a long pause between them, the silence feeling nice as the smooth wind breezed against their bodies. "But he changed over time. He learned to live with it. Besides," she sat up, turned her gaze down as she leaned over the hedgehog who placed his other hand behind his head after her leaving his side. He smiled as he made eye contact with the beautiful girl who moved her finger around his soft fur, the shirt preventing her from exploring every single smooth hair. "He did get delighted to see his little girl being so happy with you. He came to like you, Silver."

He gave a funny sigh, one that was mixed with a small laugh. "Really? Because he sure never showed it." He got up, sitting with one bent knee where one arm hang over, while the other leg was stretched out.

He stared deeply into her amber eyes, a small blush appearing on her muzzle and she moved her gaze to the grass. Why she did this was unknown to Silver. They were just hanging out… right? Sure, they never did this when in their early teenage years, but that was because of Iblis. But there was nothing wrong with sitting and admiring her, was there?

But that was exactly what troubled the hedgehog the most. He was admiring her. He used to do that on Amanda, but Blaze was different. She was much more beautiful and much more independent. And she had that perfect sarcastic, no ironic, humour. She was funny, smart, beautiful, and powerful; she was the flaming jewel he had been seeking for. But he was just too scared to take it, to admit he loved her.

"Silver?" No reaction came from him and it caused Blaze to blush a bit harder. She moved her hair away, and began biting her lips while rubbing her arm. She took a breath before waving her hand in front of his dazed off expression. "Silver, did you hear me?"

He blinked his eyes and removed that hand that had been against his chin. "Hmm? What?"

"Why did you… stare at me that way?" She asked nervously, but smiled.

His eyes widened and he blushed softly. "Oh. Uhm… I… was just… " He had to come up with something but he didn't know what to say.

"And tell me the truth." She added and looked stern at him. Her expression showed everything and she could clearly read his body language that he tried to come up with anything but the truth. He became tenser and avoided her glare quickly. "Silver, I am talking to you!"

He clenched his eyes shut. "I… I can't." He finally said, his expression showing failure and he plucked the grass.

"What do you mean that you can't? It can't be that difficult to talk!" She snapped, her temper getting over her head and she was forced to count to ten inside her mind and sighed out.

"I just can't, Blaze." He gave back, his face being stern and slightly pissed off.

"Why?" She asked in a sweeter manner, hoping it would make him feel guilty. But he had changed over the years; the usual innocent look that always made him give in, didn't work. It just pissed him off. Instead of softening on the girl he loved, he just looked angry before standing up and walking past the sitting princess. "What are you doing? And what happened to the old Silver I knew?"

He turned around, looking more and more stern and angrier by the minute. "Old Silver? What's that suppose to mean? Oh wait, I know." His whole body turned around and he looked at the sitting and boiling Blaze. "That 'old' Silver who used to get easily wrapped around your little finger is gone! He is not that naive anymore nor does he needs your guide! He has changed. But you know what, screw this! If you want to sit here and argue or try to wrap me around your finger as you used to do, then fine! But I have to get to Soleanna."

She stood up, anger showing up in her face. "Don't talk to me in that tone, Silver the Hedgehog! You know clearly well that I-"

"Don't want to hear that kind of language! I know. But nothing seems to get into you." He snapped, his feet turning around so that he faced the feline.

"WHAT?!" Her temped was getting too much. She was a ticking bomb, ready to unleash her rage at any second. She shook her head, her eyes shooting daggers at the emotionless angry hedgehog. She took her head, groaning as she released it seconds after. "You are the most immature person I have ever gotten to know! I thought you were still the same naive guy I used to care for, but no, you are just an incompetent future jerk who believes everything and everybody has good inside them! Well, you're wrong, Silver. Nobody is good in this world, not even you! Everybody has dark sides, especially you!" Her rage was making fire dancing around her. But worst of all was that she was crying. The tears that escaped her gave him the impression that she did care for him but now was betrayed by him. "You selfish jerk! I HATE YOU!"

First now he became guilty and tried moving slowly closer to her, his hands out as a sign of that he meant no harm. Those harsh words hurt him, seeing her cry tore him apart, but it hurt even more on the princess to see another side of her best friend. "Blaze, I-"

"Don't 'Blaze' me like that! From now on, you're on your own!" The fire unleashed on every possible side of the feline, igniting the grass in a small blaze.

His eyes widened and he blocked his head with his arms, putting up a psychic shield. But it was too much. Her fire broke through the barrier and send Silver flying backwards. He cried as the flames came in contact with his fur, pain flowing through his entire body.

The cry made Blaze realise the damage she created and the flames suddenly returned to her body, only the ashes around her and the harsh smell of smoke remained. A sudden breeze carried some of the ashes from the hillside, with watering eyes the feline wished all the damage she had caused was so easily erased. She was horrified by her work. There he lay, her love, in pain and burnt.

She began to cry before hurrying down to him. "Silver!" She took his body and pulled him over. He cried even louder, his clothes filled with ashes and holes with blackness surounding them, his fur had darkened several places and the fire had opened up wounds that needed to be taken care of instantly. "Oh my gosh! No, no, no. Oh, Silver. I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean to… I don't know…" She chocked badly, the sniffles she held back hurting her throat. She shook her head as she saw the burned fur and visible flesh across his cheeks and other parts of his body. She broke down and held onto the hedgehog, who struggled with his pain and tried to get the cat off him.

"Don't touch me!" He shouted before grunting in pain and taking to his everywhere, curling into a ball.

Blaze couldn't believe his words. He told her to leave him alone; he didn't want anything to do with her. She shook her head. No, no, this wasn't Silver. It couldn't be.

"Silver, please." She said and touched his cheek. The hedgehog winced but opened his eye, seeing with the blurry vision of his that water was flooding over her eyes. She stroked her hand over his damaged muzzle, making that small eye contact made her just feel so devastated inside. "I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me." She closed her eyes, the teardrops dripping rapidly from her chin

Despite his unbelievable pain, Silver pushed her away before pushing himself up, having his arms around his already wounded chest. He took one arm around the devastated feline, comforting the girl he loved ever so much. "It's okay. I-It will h-heal." He whispered and coughed with the pain. He broke a bit away and stroked the tears away from her beautiful lilac and soaked fur. "It's okay. I will be fine."

Feeling his hand stroking her cheek, made her feel so broken. Watching him in this condition because of her, it was unbearable and it made her heart wrench around inside herself. She clenched her eyes shut and hugged him tightly, expression her apologise for him. "I care for you, Silver. I really do." She sniffled before breaking into even more tears. "I didn't want to hurt you. I don't… want to lose you. Ever again. Ever."

Even though the pain only increased when she was in his embrace, Silver accepted the apology and hugged her back. "I… I care for you too, B-Blaze. I care a lot for you. And… believe me, I d-don't want to lose you ei-ther."

He coughed roughly, pain sticking everywhere around his body. It became too much. He released the feline, collapsing to the ground where he felt his being becoming more and more damaged as the wounds weren't taken care of. He coughed hardly, wincing and taking around his trembling devastated body.

She almost lay down beside him, but leaned over his injured body. Her tears hit his face, and without them knowing, the water started to sink into the skin and healed the wounds. She made eye contact with him once again, placing her hands on his forehead and chest. "I regret what I told you, Silver. Please, believe me, I don't hate you." Her eyes closed slightly and her head moved closer. His eyes were growing despite the pain of them doing that, but he felt his heart race and he began heating up. She opened her eyes and stroked the back of her hand that once was on his chest, on his sweet cheek. "I love you."

She turned away, regretting she let that slip out.

"Blaze…" This was it. He was going to reject her and say that this was the end of their friendship. But she couldn't bear to look at him. Her back was turned sideward, her head looking out on the horizon. She felt his hand turning her head and he had moved ever so close to her, his breath against her lips. "I love you too." It was a whisper but god was she surprised to hear that, yet happy. But even more surprising was that their lips crashed together as the hedgehog leaned forward.

Her eyes widened at the bliss she felt, but slowly she closed her amber eyes as he had done before wrapping her arms around him. Because of his weakness, the pair fell backwards, the feline being on top of the male. Pain stroke through his wounded body, but he didn't care. He had the beauty, the love, of his life in his arms, kissing her with all his passion.

The feline began moaning when the kiss deepened and his tongue smoothly entered her mouth. It was a delighted taste and it made her heart bounce and her inner flame began flaring up, another wave of power filling her. His hands stroke her back, an eager to feel her fur was overwhelming his entire being, his hands moving in under the cuts of her dress and causing her to purr lowly. It was such a wonderful feeling, but he wanted to feel it, like really feel it.

Before he could have the time to remove his gloves, however, the princess broke away, panting for air and a blush was clearly visible on her face. But she was so much in bliss that once she caught her breath, she connected with Silver once again. Now, pressing her beautiful body against his wounded one, the hedgehog moved his bare hands in between the cuts and stroked over her soft fur. It caused her to moan even more once she felt his soft hands moving so slowly and smoothly over her back, and her tail was swinging from side to side.

A light and warmth radiated from her body, consuming the two lovers in wonderful brightness. Miraculously, the burnt flesh on the hedgehog disappeared, the power Solaris granted the girl gave the opportunity to heal Silver's injuries. They broke apart once again as the light dimmed and died out.

He painted himself as he held his gaze with the fire princess, stroking the hair away from her beautiful moisty eyes. "I love you, Blaze. I always have." He whispered before gently touching her lips, sucking the lower one for a few seconds and broke away.

The princess moved her head closer, kissing the orphan boy she had fallen for. "I have kept my feelings hidden from you for far too long." She began stroking his smooth cheeks; the feeling that no scratches were felt on her finger index didn't make any reaction from her. "But I have loved you for so long now. It was unbearable to let you be in the darkness and not knowing what I felt for you. I felt horrible leaving you behind without even telling you that I loved you so badly." Tears dropped from her eyes as she sat up, her bottom being on his stomach, as she rubbed her eyes to get the water away. "I love you, Silver the Hedgehog. I love you very much." She said as she looked down at the touched hedgehog.

He moved his entire being up; the pain had suddenly vanished when he was moving. "I love you too, Blaze the Cat. I love you too." The movement caused the princess to slide down to his pants, a funny feeling of being close to "something" tickled her nerves like hell. He moved closer, their lips once again crashing against each other.

He was ever so gentle with her, he pleased her so well. His tongue moved so sweetly against her lips, entering her mouth now and then and it made her heart flutter. She kissed back, attacking his tongue wildly as she had her hands at his head, stroking his head and getting a good grip on his long back head quills. They were surprisingly very flexible; she was able to move them in every direction she wanted. She began teasing him, tickling his long dreadlocks-looking quills while keeping his lips locked.

His tail began wiggling from side to side rapidly, her teasing tickling his quills and shivers went down his spin. Not only that, but he began behaving as a dog because of shaking his leg, and groans escaped him and he clenched his eyes. He managed to break apart from Blaze's lips when he pushed her off his lap. She yelped as he pushed her down to the grass, pinning her wrists down on each side of her head. They stared deeply into each other's pair of golden eyes. So much love and happiness filled them, both shining like diamonds in the sky. He moved closer, his eyes slowly slipping into darkness and so did hers. Their lips came in contact and the male's tongue slipped inside her mouth, exploring every inch, every millimeter, of it and twirled his attacker against her own. She moaned in pleasure, higher and higher as he deepened the passion they shared.

By now, he had released his grip and was now having his hands beside the feline's beautiful body. Her hands, and arms, on the other hand, had found their way around his neck, holding the hedgehog closely to her. Her fingers moved slowly and carefully in between his fur, stroking his head with sweet manners.

The couple panted once they broke apart, eyes still closed and Blaze felt a gentle and short kiss come from the man she oh so much loved, before opening her amber eyes. His handsome face glowed up, his head blocking the sun. She felt his breath against her face and even though he didn't had the best breath today, he was still ever so wonderful and loving. He moved closer, rubbing his nose gently against her fine and smooth one.

"I love you, Blaze. So, so much." He whispered before kissing her again. Her grip tightened and she brought him closer before pushing him off her. She broke away, her face being just beside his. Both were lying sideways on the glowing hill, the breeze of the nice cool wind brushing against their bodies.

"I love you too, Silver. Very much." She whispered as she stroked his front quills. He smiled before kissing her once again, pulling her entire being closer. "You know you've always owned my heart, right?" Her eyes were shining the brightness of being madly in love, her smile being as beautiful as the nature, if not more.

"And you know my heart has always been in the palm of your hands. It has always belonged to you." His whisper made her heart pump so much faster, her eyes getting wet that she had to rub it away in his chest fur. He embraced his love who was holding tightly to him, his smile only increasing when she snuggled closer to him. "Believe me. There wasn't one day where I did not think about you. It pained me to lose you and I tried to move on by going out with other girls…" He trailed off and he felt the princess break away from him, confusion showing up in her face expression. Their eyes met and he stroked her hair away. "And even though I fell in love with another girl, and she was in love with me… I-I couldn't give her the same amount of love as she gave me…" He was talking about Amanda, the girl who also had captured his heart and who Blaze had seen through that video in the bracelet Sonic had "borrowed" from the future hero. He sighed. "I couldn't give her so much love as she, because I was so much more in love with you. I love you more than anybody, Blaze, and anything." He moved his hand behind her head, their eyes slowly closing once again. "I wanted you and nobody else. I love you, my princess."

And once more, their lips connected.

...

The deep snow made the trek especially hard for Marine, her smaller size meant she was submersed within the biting ice. Espio's keen agility saw him leading the group, the stealthy chameleon was just another shadow on the landscape as he ventured through the icy wasteland, scouting for Eggman's base. The raccoon wished for the snow scooter but the detectives had insisted that the machine was left behind in favour of a silent approach. Suddenly a large hand grasped the girl and Marine bit her lip to hold back a scream.

Vector grinned as he plucked the heat loving mammal from the snow. "Need a hand?"

Marine laughed softly at her momentary panic and smiled at the crocodile before nodding. In the distance Espio made a wild hand signal and Charmy raced across. Vector pulled Marine onto his shoulder and followed, the large croc staggering and slipping as he travelled. When they reached the ninja, who was hidden on a narrow ledge, the youngest members of the group gasped, there were large watch towers with search lights filling the area. Regiments of robots stood near each light, some hovering above ice and all primed to deal with intruders. Behind all the defences loomed the gargantuan monstrosity that was Eggman's fortress.

Vector sighed and rubbed his snout. "Hey Espio, think you could...?"

Before the lead detective could finish, the chameleon vanished. Out of the shadows was a flash of silver and the bulb on the nearest search light shattered. The group of robots whirled round and Vector leapt into the group, a series of wild sparks highlighted the powerful reptile's form as he crushed a machine between his jaws. Charmy gave Marine a wild grin before dive-bombing a machine that was trying to sneak up on the crocodile. For a moment Marine slipped on the icy edge, her arms flailing for balance, before the little sea-side dwelling raccoon launched herself at a robot that had separated from the group. The treacherous snow sent the robot thrashing as it shattered upon the ground. The startled form of Espio appeared and Marine frowned.

"These blokes must have some sort of thermal rec'on technology." The girl's frowned deepened. " 'least I think that's wha' Tails calls it."

The chameleon frowned. "Perhaps, assuming Eggman was expecting Sonic. It doesn't explain their ability to find me... or Vector for that matter, we're cold blooded. Sonar would be more likely."

"Looks like we might have more of a battle than we thought." Charmy panted as he flew over, the sparking remains of robots behind him. "These machines go crazy when the lights are turned off."

"It may be wise if I snuck through and found the route to Eggman's base which would involve destroying the fewest lights." Espio's gaze was fixed on the newly arrived Vector.

The crocodile frowned. "Normally I'd go for that but Espio this frozen wasteland is a death trap. We need to stick together in case something happens." Vector cracked his knuckles. "If that means we fight then we fight."

Nodding, the ninja settled himself. "Very well, but let us keep close to the cliffs, it will be warmer and may offer some cover from the bullets."

As they preceded both Marine and Vector took care to follow Espio's footsteps. Charmy was flying overhead when the first bullet ripped past. Without hesitation Vector leapt on top of the bee to shield him from the attack while Espio and Marine scanned the icy group for the robot. A flurry of snow had started up and it limited visibility. A flash in the darkness alerted Marine to Espio's shrunken and a bright explosion that followed told her of his success. Each time the group neared a search light a wild battle began, the snow was falling so thickly that there was no option but to leave the blind strobe of the searchlight on just so the group could avoid attacking one another. As they neared the base a large snow ball rolled down the path. Being stuck in a narrow ravine the group were forced to race to keep a head of the mammoth boulder. Finally the path widened and the relieved group to dive to the sides, watching the mass of ice bounce past to collide with a horde of robots at the bottom of the slope. The biting and fierce wind slowed the journey but eventually the base loomed overhead. Its harsh metal features blazed like a beacon in the untouched kingdom of ice and snow. The lights illuminated the area before the steel gate and with a scowl Espio vanished. A few moments passed before the heavy steel doors began to part. Once a narrow opening was formed, Marine, Vector and Charmy entered to find Espio waiting. The young raccoon smiled at the warm of the base but frowned at the long metal corridors which interconnected.

"We're gonna have a job findin' these emeralds mates," the mammal sighed, "these passageways all look the same."

"Trust Eggman to make our job harder." The Chaotix boss sighed. "We'd better get looking."

The cold grey steel walkways looked identical. As the detectives and Marine rounded a corner a group of robots appeared, the four units hovered in the air and their heads scanned from side to side. Charmy quickly smashed his stinger through the nearest robot whilst Espio grabbed the second. Vector slammed his body into the remaining pair and flashed his teeth when they shattered. Every few turns the foursome encountered another squad of robots which they quickly dealt with.

Charmy sighed wearily; he was hovering near the ground. "We'll never find these emeralds."

Even Vector and Espio seemed exhausted as they entered another collection of metal hallways. Marine's blue eyes shone and she froze suddenly.

"Here blokes, what do y' make of this?"

Three pairs of eyes turned to see a passageway littered with robots, larger machines armed with missiles lingered near the far doorway, their red and black armour gleaming in the bright lights.

"Seems we will have to battle our way through." A small smirk played on the chameleon's face.

Vector groaned. "How does Sonic do this every time?"

"Yay!" Charmy grinned wildly. "We get to be the heroes!"

At Charmy's cheer the robots whirled wildly to face the group and opened fire. Charmy and Vector leapt away from the barrage of bullets while Espio turned invisible and began to sneak towards the door. Marine frowned at the army and her hiding friends, a green light surrounded her fist. Suddenly Marine attacked the robots, the powerful blast knocking the army into the walls.

The girl grinned at the detectives. "A good captain always protects her crew. Now let's go get those emeralds."

The girl began walking in a good pace, her arms swinging back and forward. The rest of the Chaotix Team watched on in awe. Who would have thought that such a talkative hyper girl could hold such tremendous power? Not the three boys there, that's for sure. Once realising that not one step was taken by the gang, Marine turned around.

"Oi! Whatcha looking at?" She snapped, turning around and putting her brown gloved fists on her hips. "We ain't gone all day! Blaze needs us and we have to track down the Solar Emeralds, so get y' lazy butts over 'ere and 'elp me!"

Surprisingly, the trio of boys moved forward, still in shock over the little girl's power.

"Uhm... Marine?" The bee buzzed over her head before flying beside her. She looked at him, at proud grin on her face and it was full of determination. "How did you do that? Your hands glowed green and then you like wiped an entire army away!"

"Oi always been able to do that. Never know how Oi do it, it just comes to me when people needs 'elp the most." Her feet marched forward before turning left into the next corridor. She frowned. "Ey Hector!" She shouted to the crocodile. "How much longer to the emerald?"

"It's Vector, Marine." He said in annoyance. He looked at his chaos energy scanner, a signal showing up but it was in a room not connected to the others. "Well, we got a problem. No door is connected to the room the emerald is locked inside." He searched around, and spotted an air vent. He ripped the hatch away and looked in. "Charmy!" The bee was beside his boss in a flash. "Fly in there and get the emerald. If my scanner's coordinates are correct, then there should be an air vent leading into the room."

He made a salute, excited for his task. "Aye aye, Captain Vector!" He zoomed into the ventilation system, totally unnoticed by the security. It took him some time to find the certain air vent but the unusual radiating power led him to the room. "Hey Vector! I found it!" In the distant, he could hear the crocodile shushing him on the other end. "Oh, right."

As quietly as he could be, he removed the vent and flew silently in.

On the other end of the air vent, the three other Mobians were tense and waited impatiently for the young bee to return.

"What takes him so long?" The raccoon frowned. " 'e said 'e found the emerald, right?"

"And I did!" He came buzzing out with a gem in his hand. "But this isn't a Chaos Emerald." Correct. It wasn't a diamond formed gem, it was a rectangular one.

"Strewth!" The captain shouted and pulled the emerald close to her. "Tis is a Sol Emerald! Good job, mate. Oi!"

Suddenly, the red emerald started to glow bright.

"I think another Sol Emerald is nearby." The chameleon invented. "Let's see if we can find it and get away from this place."

"Your captain will lead the way!"

But she didn't lead for long. As they neared the end of the corridor, they reached a solid thick metal door. "Ouch. How will we get past?" The bee was wrenching his small brain around, hoping to get an idea.

"Maybe I could find a way around and unlock the door from the inside." Espio said, his thoughts still planning a route.

"We don't have time for this!" The large crocodile cracked his fingers as he pushed the two kids aside. We a high shout, he slammed his foot against the door and it tipped forward.

Inside, however, was a person none of them would have thought was there. He turned around in his chair, the foursome gasping and the girl hid away the emerald.

* * *

><p><em>Katerina Talks!<em>

_EDIT: This chapter has gone from chapter 11 to chapter 12!_

_Yay! I love this chapter! My absolute favourite and I really enjoyed writing the confession part. So romantic. ^/ / / /^_

_But other than that sweet, sweet, sweet part with my favourite pairing, Silvaze, I thought it would be nice to have some focus on The Chaotix. Come on, they are awesome, and we haven't heard from them ever since chapter 7. Of course, I gave them a small part in the beginning of the last chapter, but that was because I didn't want to switch back and forward in this chapter. In reality, this chapter was supposed to much longer, but since on deviantART screwed up on me, again, I decided to separate the two parts of chapter 11 and make two different chapters. Plus, it's much easier to make titles for a chapter that way. :P_

_Oh! And who is the man in the chair! Want a hint? It's thee man! Eh? Get it?... no? Then stay put, because I will reveal it in the next chapter where the Chaotix will get a task from this man and get a good amount of salary for this work. *ahem sonicheroesreference ahem*  
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_Jesus. I am beginning to find it very hard writing this story since NOBODY GIVES ME REVIEWS, EVEN THOUGH PEOPLE READ THROUGH THIS PIECE OF CRAP! Sorry. My temper got the better of me. *ahem* But seriously, please review my story. I would love to hear your feedbacks and that is why I decided to create an account here on ff . net in the first place. To hear your opinions and make my stories better. But I can't really do that when you review, now can I?_

_Another thing I found very hard to write - and I am serious, it's no piece of cake -, is the part with all the emeralds. I have to have an overview over 14 darn emeralds! The seven Sol Emeralds and the seven Chaos Emeralds. They have a somewhat big role in this story and if people have seen through it, then they know what I mean. If others haven't, well, then just stay tune for the coming chapters because it will be epic! But no joke, it is hard to decide who should find which emerald at what place at what time... it stresses me to think about the work ahead. *groan*_

_Katerina Oestergaard_


	13. Foray

**Elemental Flames**

_Chapter 13 - Foray_

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><p>Her lips warmed his heart. She tasted wonderful, and she was so soft to embrace. Even though she wished this relationship to be as secretive as possible, then she still wanted the world to know how much she cared for and loved the hedgehog. He was her one and only, an orphan, yes, but he had managed to open her heart even more and allowed her to be herself. He has always been there for her, protecting her no matter what. If he had never entered her life, she would probably have been a cold stone hearted princess with no contact to her feelings.<p>

The dark shadows that once scared her did nothing to her now. He was here, here to protect her. But why did she seek protection? She never wished to be protected; she could take care of herself and handle everything on her own, yet she longed to be with him, to be in his arms just feel the safety of being with him.

She broke away, her eyes fixed on him. "Would it be weird if I said that I seek protection from you?" Her whisper was so innocent and nervous; it made his heart bounce a bit too much to see her vulnerable like this, as if he had wanted to make her feel this way. He smiled, his back hand stroking her cheek ever so softly as their connection with amber and gold was locked in place.

"It is weird to hear it coming from you… but…" He leaned forward, causing her to move even further back until she hit the wall of the ally they were in. Her breath became faster as she watched him nearing her, her bare hands curling in and out. His gloved thumb slide against her lips to her chin, his eyes just spellbinding her and kept her in place. "It's not surprising that you feel this way. It's something that goes all the way back in ancient history where…" He chuckled as he stared smiling into her eyes. "Where we men were supposed to go on hunt and keep you women protected from any harm and danger. I guess it's just the way nature has decided to make this world."

He moved even closer, and he felt her hands being against his chest as he had put both his hands against the wall, leaning down to his beautiful angel. She closed her eyes, and connected with the orphan boy. Moans immediately escaping her as he sucked her lips, licked his tongue gently against them before allowing getting entrance.

People were walking past the small little alley where the couple was, not caring to bother looking in even if they got a glimpse of their make out session. But one girl, no it was actually two, a hedgehog and a human, caught their attention on the pair. And they gasped. Amy was bouncing up and down, excitement and joy hitting the young mother.

"Oh my gosh!" She squealed. Luckily, it was a busy day. Even though the Festival of the Sun was a disaster the day before, people had still jobs and work to attend. "You see that?! I knew they had a thing going on!" Her excitement took control and she dragged the touched Soleanna princess with her to the entrance of the ally. They peeked in, watching as they stopped the make out but was now staring deeply into each other's love filled eyes. The pink rascal had such an eager to jump out and congratulate them, but her senses told her no. They connected again, the fire princess wrapping her arms around the telekinetic commoner and small moans escaped her.

Amy was a little sun shine, a blush crawling to her peach muzzle and she took around to them. She sighed as soon as she saw the pair break away; they stared into each other's unbelievable romantic eyes, telling the other that they meant more to them than the world. Elise smiled and she looked sweetly at the couple before pulling Amy away from the opening. If they kept their current position, they would be discovered.

"Aww. They look so cute together." The princess told as she glimpsed one more time to the couple inside the alley. They were kissing once again and a blush crawled to Elise's pale cheeks. She looked back at the love dumb hedgehog. "I suggest it's best if we leave them alone. Don't you agree?"

Amy sighed in sweetness. Her eyes closed and her hands being on her muzzle. "I tell you, Elise. Love is such a magnificent feeling." She looked one last time in, the couple having now their foreheads against each other, smiling with the dreamiest eyes man had ever seen. She looked back at the princess who had placed her hands on her chest. She took Elise's hands, having her eyes shut for a few seconds. "It changes everything. It makes-"

"Every little moment in your life huge." She ended and looked into Amy's sea-green eyes. Elise giggled and pulled herself closer to the pink one. "Right?"

Amy had a sly smile on her lips. "Ohh, don't think I haven't noticed your love life, missy." Elise was confused. She didn't had any love interest; last time was Sonic and she felt embarrassed for loving the hedgehog when he clearly already had another admire. "You and that Travis guy make such a cute couple together."

The princess' eyes widened and she released the pink hedgehog's hands. "Amy! We're just friends!"

Her eyes lowered and her hands and her hips. "Yeah, that's exactly what those two always said. And look at them now." She pointed back into the alley and Elise followed her gaze. Silver and Blaze was now in an embrace, her hands stroking the back of his head as he pushed her up and against the wall, kissing her so deeply and tongues were dancing in and out between their mouths. Elise gulped and blushed stronger before looking away. Amy began walking towards the market. "Just admit it, Elise. You like Travis."

The girl ran after the pink hedgehog. "We are just friends, Amy. Nothing more."

The cat's ear twitched and she broke away. Saliva was leaving their mouths, warm breath against warm breath. She turned towards the exit of the clean alley, seeing nothing but the people that walked by. Weird. She could have sworn she had a certain human friend of hers.

He stroked his hands up and down her fine furred lilac legs and kissed her neck, nibbled it honestly; it caused her to gasp and moan afterwards. She began blushing strongly because of his bits and her grip became firmer. He searched around her neck for that sensitive sweet spot, causing the feline to moan when he moved around. Once he reached the right lower part of her neck, she gasped highly and her head shot up, hitting the wall with a thumb. She released her lover for a second rubbing her top head after the small collusion. He bit a bit harder and it made Blaze moan higher, pant as she held the hedgehog. He departed his lips from her neck, a trail of his saliva being on her entire neck.

"What were you looking at, sweet?" He whispered as he leaned up and kissed her lips softly. Pinning her up and against the wall and keeping her there was a challenge, but not one who couldn't handle. He stared into her pleased amber eyes, her legs wrapped around his hips and her arms around his neck. She turned her gaze to the streets.

"Nothing. I just thought I heard Elise and Amy." She whispered and turned back down to Silver. He kissed her once more. "I want our love to remain a secret, Silver." He looked miserable and released his hold of her against the wall so that she could stand on her two feet. She stroked his cheek, looking up and into his eyes. She shook her head. "I am not ready to tell them."

He sighed in defeat. "I understand." He then looked up, stroking her hair away from her eyes. He pulled her closer and kissed her passionately. A small moan escaped the princess as he had her lips locked. He released her and his thumb rubbed her white muzzle. "I just want people to know how great my love for you is."

Their foreheads connected, both heads pointing downwards and eyes closed. He kissed her and pulled her into a hug.

"I feel so safe with you." She whispered, her eyes had kept their shut condition and she snuggled into the male hedgehog's fur. "So protected." She added, holding hands with her dream prince and rubbed her thumb in his palm.

The hedgehog pulled her even closer with his hand behind her head and kissed her glowing ruby. "Speaking about safety..." He let go of her hand and wrapped it around her body. He sighed in defeat and released her. He stared now deeply into her eyes, stroking her hair away from her beautiful amber eyes. "We need to get you to the castle."

Her eyes widened in surprise and quickly she shook her head. "No!" She hurried into his arms once again. "Please, I feel so safe with you, Silver."

"I know." He whispered and hugged her close. "But that doesn't mean you _are _safe with me. I am sorry, Blaze." He sighed, his mouth against her forehead. "But I don't want to lose you to Nega again. I can't let that happen. You mean too much to me to lose you to that mad man. Besides, if he gets hold of you then there is no telling what he will do in order to revive Iblis from your soul."

Even though it made sense to her, she still felt her heart ache. But she couldn't act out of character. Silver was right. If the Flames of Disaster fell into the hands of the mad scientist, the world would be doomed. And the doctor would do anything, _anything_, to get a hold of the flaming destruction of Solaris.

She sighed and nodded as she broke away from the male. "I understand. It's best if I return to the castle." Her arms crossed over one another, her gaze being at her magenta high-heeled shoes. "Nega won't be able to get me there. Besides," she chuckled as her gaze went to the smiling boy. "Heh. I need to get out of these clothes." She sweat dropped at her own comment and rubbed her cheek, they turning slightly a pink colour. Her eyes opened in surprise when she felt the male grab hold of her arms, pulling her closely.

Bliss hit her lips, and the pink colour darkened before she closed her eyes and kissed back. They broke apart, staring deeply into each other's eyes before Silver let go of her arms, seeking her hand instead.

"Let's go then." Once these words escaped and she smiled, they exited the opposite side of the ally, the side where no people were walking by.

She was close to him all the way, holding him tightly. He kissed her forehead and looked sweetly at the princess.

Negative energy suddenly filled the area not far from the great torch of Soleanna. And it bothered the hedgehog. A buzzing sound made him turn up and his eyes widened. As soon as he spotted the purple orb, he send a wave of psychic energy of his hand, a diagonal knife stroke in front of the pair and the forces of negative and positive energy made a small explosion.

A frustrated shout escaped the other end of the smoke and several more energy balls hurled towards them. A shield was put up, withstanding the power the opponent threw. The heat made Blaze feel fresh and new and once concentrating on the warm smoke, it all slipped into her hands, making the person that started the assault visible.

"Do you have any idea how long it took to find you?!" The voice belonged to a girl on their own age, a purple hedgehog having her hairy quills set up in a ponytail. She was dressed pretty much up to date with dark blue calm pants, a black top exposing her belly, a yellow and black belt as well as black converse shoes.

She fired another wave energy towards the couple, her eyes having a dangerous purple glow. But the hedgehog took his beloved one and jumped out of the way.

"Grr! Stand still!" The girl shouted as her hands began glowing up again.

"Who are you?" He exclaimed in frustration, throwing a psychic arrow towards the female who easily countered it with her own energy. The smoke covered the area between them for a second before she spoke.

"My name is Nebula, princess of the Lunarion Kingdom! For the sake of my people, I will destroy you!"

The fiery princess began flaring up, her entire body engulfed in flames. A slight dark chuckle escaped her before she made eye contact with the hedgehog girl, Silver stepping back of her rage. "This'll be fun. I have waited a long time for this meeting." The hedgehog narrowed her eyes on the fire girl, her eyes turning back to their normal blue colour. Blaze unleashed a world of inferno towards her enemy, her anger blinding her for her own actions.

Nebula dodged the attack, burning her hair on their tips. "How is that possible? Pyrokinesis? No, or if it's not…" A sly smile appeared on her lips.

"Blaze?" The hedgehog asked nervously but she was deaf; her rage had a mind of it's own on her as if a self defence system had activated inside her because of the presence of Solaris.

Nebula chuckled. "Well, if it isn't princess Blaze the Cat of the Solarian Kingdom. Long time never seen. I am impressed." She took a defensive stance, grinning at her opponent. "But it will take more to defeat me."

"We'll see about that!"

The solar princess leapt forward, fist engulfed with flames and she punched forward to the hedgehog. Nebula back flipped several times as Blaze was fighting wildly into the thin air. But once the Lunarion was off guard and just landed on her feet, an inferno of flames released from Blaze's body, burning the princess in front of her. But she didn't give up despite the pain even when she collided with the wall. Wiping away the blood that streamed from her lips end, she smirked. Her hands illuminated with dark energy, and she struck forward. The feline blocked the attacks with the use of her arms, before sending the girl backwards with a burst of fire balls to the guts. The hedgehog had lost her breath as she gasped for the return of air. She glared upwards.

"Smart move, your highness." She growled, her entire being radiated with a lilac glow and she stood up. "However, your mistakes are about to come to an end!"

Once again, the lunar princess leapt forward, and again, the solar princess blocked the attacks. But Nebula had seen through her pattern and once she was ready to deliver another blast to her guts, the blue-violet hedgehog swung over the lilac cat's back, delivering her own charged energy to her back. Blaze was in rage, and it was all part of the plan. Because once she was literately on fire, and swung her flaming attacks everywhere, which the lunar dodged, she was beginning to pant. A surprise attack occurred when Blaze suddenly turned around on her heel and sprung into the air, but was quickly sent back, unconscious, by a blast in her face. She collided with the wall and fell to the ground limply.

"Blaze!" Silver, who had been out of this fight and confused the whole time, warped in front of his beloved girlfriend. She was breathing, but the hedgehog was still in rage. "You'll pay for what you did, princess Nebula!" He roared before running towards her.

"Oh yeah? Think again, you heartless hedgehog!" Energy of darkness, yet pure lilac light, was formed into her hands as a spear and she hurled it at the speeding hedgehog with glowing eyes.

Surprised by the girl's sudden change in eye colour, Silver only belatedly noticed the attack that was hurtling towards him, the hedgehog's eyes widened and before he could block correctly, Silver was send flying into the wall. A thunderous crack echoed through the empty street and dust and stones flew everywhere. The male groaned, he could already image Shadow's face if he had seen how easily the grey hedgehog was distracted, an amateur error in combat. Silver pushed himself free of the wall in another rain of gravel, falling to the ground though his reflexes ensured he landed on his feet.

Wiping the blood the streamed from a small cut, he looked up, his eyes were filled with respect, it was clear she had impressed him.

"Not bad." He rose to his feet, suddenly illuminated by a teal glow which seemed to wake curiosity and confusion in the purple one. With his powers, he lifted the furniture and rubble up, smirking at the stunned Nebula who took a dazed step backwards before breaking into a sprint. "But it will take more to crush me!" Then he sent a storm of mismatched projectiles at the running hedgehog.

The blue-violet female used her agility and skills to dodge and weave through the barrage of furniture and stones that threaten to send her skidding into the nearest wall if they made contact. Nebula's pace was hindered by the constant need to check Silver's oncoming attacks. Deciding that the battle couldn't continue this way for much longer, the hedgehog princess cast her blue eyes across her surroundings, she saw a lamppost and, with new found confidence started to walk towards it. The change in her tactics seemed to have confused her target as the psychically charged missiles had stopped. With a cold and calculated smile Nebula used her Super Strength and tore the lamppost out of the ground to use as a baseball bat, leaving a deep trench that could prove an added danger to the battle.

"Batter up, hedgehog!" She cried as she swung the tall lamppost at Silver with the greatest of ease.

This female seemed to surprise Silver more and more. First of all her rage seemed to increase her powers, then her almost acrobat like agility skills and now her unbelievable strength!

_'Wow. How the... how could...?'_ His thoughts were interrupted as he saw the girl closing in on him, holding the lamp post in both hands. Her rage seemed to make her blind and, despite his best efforts to maintain his calm, it did scare the male slightly.

Quickly Silver used his powers to avoid the blow but as soon as he was airborne, Nebula jumped too, swinging the lamp post and hitting the male again with a resounding metallic clang that left a satisfied smile on her face. The white hero was sent hurtling towards the ground, the ringing in his head and the sharp pain from the blow prevented him from focusing enough to use his powers to catch himself. Her attack was so powerful that Silver's body created a crater on impact, the hedgehog noted the frantic sound of skip stones that came from the tiles he had forced loose with a vague sense of dread; it was almost as though the very city itself wished to escape from this powerful princess.

With a great physical effort and a groan of pain that had him biting his lip, Silver rolled onto his shoulder and his gold eyes frantically searched for the girl. Spotting a dark shape plummeting towards him, the time traveller's eyes widened and he quickly rolled out of the way as the princess' fist was aimed to strike at his face. She created a bigger crater and looked in rage at the male who was barking away.

He stood up slowly; palms held out flat, showing that he didn't wanted to harm her. "Listen, can't we just talk about this? Whatever it is you're claiming I have done, I am sure we can find a solution." He spoke calmly having his hands in front of his chest. Once he saw that the female was sill glowing purple in her eyes, the male gulped and backed away rather quickly, his eyes never leaving Nebula's form.

Determined not to let her enemy get away, Nebula leapt after the hedgehog, taking him down with a tackle. The silver hedgehog grunted in pain as he hit the floor and Nebula quickly pulled herself to her feet dragging the male up with her.

"Hmph!" She pinned him against the wall roughly. "Is this a joke? Because if it is, I'm not laughing!"

"Geez, woman! Since when did you get so strong?!" Silver struggled to get free but it was no use. Nebula glared at the struggling hedgehog, letting a huff escape her. She then pulled him closer to him, looking deadly into the pair of golden eyes with her own blue ones that had returned to their normal colour.

"That's none of your business! Now why don't you stop showing mercy and fight like a real man, you cold blooded killer!" She then threw him to the other side of the crater which now looked like an arena, but to her dismay, the male once again used his powers and slowed his speed down to a complete stop, turning around to face the enraged princess.

"What are you talking about?! I haven't done anything against you or your people, yet alone killed someone!" He said in frustration, the soft shaking of his fists the only sign his anger getting into him.

Nebula became pissed off and let a cry of frustration out, her eyes turning purple again. Her hands darkened as she charged up her energy. "You liar!" Throwing the ball towards him, Silver easily blocked them with a psychic shield, looking serious by now.

"I don't want to fight with you!" He exclaimed. The princess was still enraged as she powered up new amount of energy. Silver's glow grew brighter, his shield widened, even his eyes become teal, which did seem to shock Nebula. As he moved his arms around as Shadow always taught him, he continued. "But I will fight if I have to!" And then he released his energy. "Psychic Blast!"

The female was startled and didn't have time to avoid the attack so she was sent flying into the wall. As she struck the solid surface, her dark energy attack dispersed into the earth around her which fell like water over the blue-purple fur. Nebula groaned and fought to stay conscious. She panted as she fell to her knees. Playing as if she was injured, she heard the footsteps of the murder she was hunting. He held his hand out, much to her surprise but looked up filled with rage. She growled with narrowed eyes at Silver.

"YOU ARE SO DEAD, HEDGEHOG!" Nebula tried to punch him but was held down by Silver's ESP powers. "Hey, no fair! Let me go!" She struggled to get out from the strange glowing aura surrounding her but with no use. She was caught.

Looking down at the frozen female, Silver could only sigh as he shook his head and said, "Not a chance. I am not taking any risk."

Imprisoned, her rage was rising once more. Her eyes turned purple again as did the aura too around her. She growled as she began resisting his grip and before Silver knew it, she had broken free from his Psychokinetic hold.

"Huh? What the-?" He got send backwards from an outburst of power Nebula send. Her body was radiating with raw energy and she began panting, feeling that her powers were slowly leaving her for now. Silver's hand shot to his head as he left a cold, stick sensation and the glove came away tipped with red. Hissing and groaning in deep pain, Silver lay on his stomach on the ground after hitting the pillar in the middle of the small battle arena he and the Lunarion had created.

"You are… so pathetic and so… naive. How can you be the one who... will destroy my people?" She questioned as she panted for air, her skin filled with bruises that showed even against her dark fur as she looked at the injured hedgehog.

He looked up in great confusion. "What do you… mean?" He forced himself more up but very, very slowly, his limps burning in protest as he did.

Nebula sighed and charged up another energy ball. She shook her head as she kept her gaze down.

"That doesn't matter now. You are still very powerful and your future actions will condemn my people." She raised her right hand but hissed and shouted as something immediately hit her. Her hand was instantly burned and she looked to the left then right and what, or rather who, she spotted, definitely seemed to delight her slightly as the blue eyes filled with a strange gleam.

"So, the fire princess decided to have more. Very well." Before she could launch an attack at Blaze, however, fire engulfed her vision and she was forced to backflip, landing several feet away.

"Silver, are you okay?" Blaze asked worried as she lowered down to her burning love's side. He rubbed his head before looking into her nervous amber eyes. He smiled goofy and blushed slightly.

"Yeah, I am fine. I just got a bit hurt. Argh!" He hissed again as he pulled his hand back, revealing blood on his white glove. The feline cat princess gasped and looked from the glove to his head. She felt her heart ache as she leaned forward. He stroked her cheek before gently kissing her lips. "It's okay, Blaze. It's just a bit of blood. I will be fine."

A tear escaped her eye and she avoided his gaze. She felt sadness… but most of all, she felt complete rage. Her flames within her began to burn and they flickered in her palms in a series of erratic movements that were reminiscent of a war dance.

"I am waiting for you, your highness." Nebula insulted, knowing that her arch rival hated that name.

She quickly turned around and stood up, her eyes seeming to show the raging Flames of Disaster trapped inside her. Before Nebula knew it, the princess send an burst of fire towards the female hedgehog who widened her eyes at the beauty of the blazing flames that snaked across the arena floor and threatened to surround her.

Nebula rolled out of the way and frantically used her good hand to cover her mouth. Despite this, Nebula was coughing too hard from the flames, unable to breathe through the unnaturally thick smoke and chocking heat.

Even though she was impressed and stunned about her powers, Nebula still managed to smirk. "I've always *cough* wanted to fight *cough, cough* the Princess of Solaria any-*cough*-way." She stood up, covered in smoke and ash; her clothes had some slight burn marks on as well as on her face and around her skin.

She waited for Blaze to move and it didn't take too long before she did. The fiery feline charged at the dark hedgehog and used her agility skills to launch an overhead assault that would floor her rival… or at least she tried to. Using her super strength and quick reflexes, Nebula caught Blaze in mid-air with her bare hands and swung her around before throwing her towards the middle of the now still destroyed Soleanna torch.

A scream escaped from Blaze but it was soon replaced by a grunt as it seemed something caught her. Confused on it all, Blaze noticed she couldn't move her arms and was stuck in mid-air. She was hit by panic as she struggled from the invisible hold. Both hedgehogs on the ground were in awe, were stunned and shocked about what was going on.

Silver was shaking his head before pushing quickly up to his feet.

"Hee hee hee hee! Well, well, look who practically got into my hands." The man showed himself as the egg mobile turned visible. Nega had the devilish smile on his lips, his eyes behind the sun glasses boring into Blaze's amber ones. She began feeling panic hitting her and she was immediately struggling even harder. Doctor Eggman Nega turned his attention towards the awe struck female hedgehog. "I thank you for delivering me this beauty, princess Nebula of Lunarion. You've made my day a whole lot easier. Gwaha hah ha ha hah ha haha ha, he heh he heeh!"

The mobile lifted higher into the air, a laser shot out of the back end of the hovering device, creating a yellow portal.

"Silver!" The princess cried, the tears now escaping her and her heart was wrenching apart of leaving her beloved one. Only 2 hours had passed since the confession of their love and they were forced to be separated again; 4 and a half hour has passed since she escaped the Dusty Desert base and already was she taken back as Nega's prisoner once more.

"No! Blaze!" Silver shouted before lifting off. The purple princess had managed to get one hand free and was now reaching out for her lover.

"Silver! Help me!" She cried and stretched her arm as much as she could. Just as she got a hold around his soft hand, the grip released and Silver shouted in pain before hurling downwards. Nebula had seen his sudden opportunity to escape and shoot an energy ball towards him so that she could put on end to the devastation her kingdom would end in.

Blaze's eyes burst with tears. "Nooo!"

The beautiful princess vanished into the portal with the mad doctor, the portal closing behind them in a flash. Silver looked up. Nothing was left but the sky. That damn sky. If only things could've ended differently. He shouted in frustration, taking to his head and forced back the tears.

"No." He whispered, the feeling of failure entering the deepest of his soul. He lost her. And it was all because of…

His head jerked around and he watched as the female was approaching him with glowing fists and eyes all purple. The tears were now escaping the hurt and strong hedgehog.

"You! Look at what you've done!" He shouted in anger. But Nebula was emotionless. "I could've saved her if you hadn't interrupted!"

"Relax. So what if you love her? Not my problem." She growled. "But I know that _all_ problems will be solved once you're gone. Besides," her hands lifted up and she took a fighting stance, "don't dare turn away from me! It's time. _I_ will end this, _now_!"

His gaze was at the bricked rode, and he began chuckling darkly; rage filling his inner soul and he felt another wave of negative energy flowing through his body, the exact same dark energy that consumed him mere hours ago. He pushed his body up, having made eyes contact with the princess while being down on all four.

"You think you can beat me? How sweet." His fur was darkening, turning complete dark grey and his glow flaring a more cyan colour. He slowly began to rise, back turned against the girl. "You've just made me lose the love of my life and then you think you can end me? Hehe. Pathetic." The powers that clouded his mind had lifted several fallen stone blocks off the ground, having them hovering above it and his hands were reached out to each side as he faced her. "You know what? I think**_I _**will end _you_!"

Once again, his eyes vanished into complete witness before hurling the rocks towards the startled female. Not realizing what was happening, Nebula was sent flying into the wall, rock upon rock crushing her nerves. She grunted, rubbing her eyes before wincing. It was all bluish from the demolished buildings stones.

Blinking the dust from her eyes, Nebula gave a feral growl at the site of the destroyer of her people hovering above her with no emotions upon his face except for anger that made his complete white eyes narrow.

"Finally you're showing me who you really are!" The dark princess snarled. "Which means it's time I show what I can really do!"

Nebula's eyes shone purple as she charged the dark hedgehog with her fist raised. Silver held his ground as the Lunarion closed in, flicking Nebula aside moments before she made contact. The rage charged blow sent the blue furred hedgehog sailing backwards in a wild series of flips before she slammed into the wall.

Silver laughed as he watched a rain of bricks descend upon the dazed princess, his psychic energy tossed his dark grey quills in a hurricane of raw power. "You're nobody's saviour."

The female hedgehog's delicate form trembled with rage and in a fit of blind fury, she sent a barrage of dark energy blasts towards the time traveling hero. The grey hedgehog threw up a shield and watched as the first round of energy blasts shattered against the surface. Seeing her enemy unharmed, Nebula growled and charged up a larger blast of dark energy which she hurled at her murderous opponent. The psychic shield held but a large crack appeared along the surface. The purple orbs of the Lunarion princess shone with hope and she quickly launched a third volley of blasts. At the moment of contact a ferocious storm of energy filled the narrow streets of Soleanna, purple and blue bolts of energy danced across the dust and ash. Leaning closer to the vortex of light and dark energy, the female hedgehog squinted against the dust, her eyes blue again as she waited to see the fate of the lover of princess Blaze; the one who would destroy her kingdom.

Slowly the smoke began to clear, despite the looping and weaving streams of power that lashed against the nearby buildings, chipping away stone and plaster. Five upturned quills formed in the shadows and, with a wide arc of a glowing palm, Silver brushed the smoke aside. The hedgehog was bruised but showed no sign of being in pain.

"N-NO!" Nebula dropped to her knees at the sight. "You can't be alive. For the sake of my people, I can't let you live!"

"And for what you've done to Blaze, I won't let you walk away." Silver snarled.

Before the dark princess could reply, a blue blast of pure power knocked her across the street, the air being forced from her lungs even before she struck the ground.

For a moment Nebula lay still, her eyes fixed on the other hedgehog. She'd spent so much time, so much effort tracking down the murder of her people and now he was going to finish her off. How could she, the princess of the Lunarion kingdom, fail to avenge her people? What kind of protector was she? Dimly, Nebula was aware of the psychic blast that Silver hurled in her direction. A wave of despair and rage filled the princess and she shone with dark energy. Though Silver's blast forced Nebula back, the moment was minor and with a frown, the enraged time traveller floated closer. Without warning a sharp, biting pain cut into Silver's muzzle and the hedgehog hissed. Glancing round wildly, Silver was blood dripping from Nebula's... claws. The Lunarion's eyes glowed purple and fangs stuck out from her lips.

The anger fuelled hedgehog hesitated for a moment before a wild grin spread across his face. "Finally a challenge."

With a cruel smile, Silver shot into the sky to avoid another swipe from Nebula's claws and started to charge another psychic blast. Before he could launch the attack, however, a dark blur slammed into his back and the grinning dark incarnation of Nebula appeared.

"You won't get rid of me that easily." The Lunarion scowled and fired her own blast of power at the grey furred hedgehog.

Although the blast connected, Silver's anger empowered him so much that he instantly retaliated. As the blast connected, Nebula growled and lunged towards the other hedgehog. The Lunarion's sharp claws tore towards Silver's ears and the psychic kicked out as he twisted to the side. Losing her target, Nebula snarled and swung out with a wild punch, connecting with Silver's chest. Although his rage accelerated form prevented the air being forced from his lungs, the time traveller winced at the power behind the blow. At the sight of Nebula's overjoyed smirk as she witnessed his pain, Silver was filled with visions of the Lunarion laughing at the battered and broken form of Blaze. Pain that the dark princess had caused by distracting him from his lover at a time when she was vulnerable.

The orchestra of pounding blood that rang in his ears rose to a crescendo and sparks of psychic energy shot from his clenched fists. The hedgehog's form shook with unrestrained fury and a blade of blue energy sliced across the darkening sky. Where the blast hit the taller building of Soleanna, large chunks of rubble were sent cascading to the ground, where they uprooted boats in Soleanna's canals. As the pulsing light connected with Nebula, she plummeted like a swirling leaf. The princess struggled to regain control of her flight, only correcting her fall when she drew level with Soleanna's building. Her glowing orbs narrowed and the dark princess fired a blast of negative energy to cover her renascent. Silver dodged the blast with ease but the dark bullet that was the Lunarion princess caught him with an uppercut. Enraged, Silver called a hurricane of psychic power around him and charged after the rising form of the female hedgehog. Bolts of psychic power hounded the racing princess, each strike that landed knocked her wildly off course and allowed the time traveller to fire another shot. Clearly wearily of the chase, Nebula spun round, dark energy shooting from her whirling hands to shatter the psychic's assault of power. The pair created a firework display of energy blasts which illuminated Soleanna's sky and could be seen across the whole city. Blue and purple blasts crashed and created thunder booms as the hedgehogs panted from their constant use of energy attacks. Bruises showed on both pale and dark fur but the battlers' eyes were burning fires of rage.

Their dodging and weaving motions formed a choreographed dance reminiscent of the agile movements of a fiery princess. As Silver's thoughts turned to his love, he failed to notice the wildly crackling blast of energy which Nebula hurled at him. Completely defenceless, the time traveller was sent rocketing towards the deserted streets of the city, his dark form fading as he connected with the ground, a loud crack echoing in the street.

He lay still in a rather awkward position, eyes shut closed but it was visible for the princess that he was still breathing.

_'Can't get a job properly done, can you? Ugh.' _She thought as she was slowly bringing herself down to solid surface, the gravity doing the most of work as her fur was lightning and was back to normal. Her eyes showed the purest determination with their blue colour, her eyes narrowed as she saw the hedgehog on the end moving before coughing badly. He was trying to stand. "Give up… already!" She shouted between pants, her chest rising rapidly as she felt the exhaustion getting into her, her throat craving for water and her body for a break. "You've lost!"

Nevertheless, Silver rose to his feet. Nobody was going to bring him down without him fighting to the bitter end. "… Never. I won't… give up." He whispered between the grunts and groans, his body trembling in pain as he held to the nearby wall. He shook his head. _'I can't. Blaze needs me. I will never surrender!'_

Despite the unbelievable pain the hedgehog was in, both mentally from the loose of his lover, and physically from the battle, Silver channelled his powers, a cyan glow covering him and his quills flaring in different directions. Concentrating with all his might, Silver began glowing stronger and stronger, his entire being hovering a few centimeters above the ground and his eyes being slightly teal. He unleashed the Psychic Blast he held within him; the last of his Chaos powers had vanished from his body and he needed rest to rebuild it.

Her eyes widened as she was forced against the buildings, the air from her lungs vanished instantly when the blow from his telekinetic attack hit her. It was only because of her reflexes that Nebula didn't hit the walls, and instead leapt from it and landed on the ground. She was injured herself, panting desperately for air as she took to her heart. It was beating rapidly against her chest, the blood cycling quickly around to regain her full consciousness and breath. It took several minutes for her to maintain herself and, surprisingly, her enemy hadn't pulled yet another psychokinetic attack on her. That confused her and it made her curious. What had happened to him?

Her answer was just by looking up. She heard low groaning coming from the other end of the street and right there, near the fourth half demolished building, lay Silver the Hedgehog still as a plank. He wasn't really moving, his eyes shut tight in a painful face expression and at his side. He was bleeding several places, not heavily but enough for anybody to say that he had to be taken away. He coughed roughly, hissing for breath. Slowly opening his eyes, Silver felt a cold sensation in his palm as if he was upon something. And he was. Turning his palm as he got hold of the object, he saw a golden charm bracelet with five individual charms. Blaze's charm bracelet was in his hand. She must've lost it during the battle against Nebula, and of course, he blamed himself for that.

He stroked his thumb over the golden metal, his eyes being moisty. "Blaze…"

He heard footstep, they were slow and tired, but they moved forward. He knew it was _her_.The princess of Lunarion. He wanted to fight her to the bitter end, but his body have craved that now was enough. Every single muscle within him was sore and exhausted. Still, he forced himself up to his knees, all four down on the ground and he panted heavily. His chest rose and lowered, his eyes shut again, and his hand kept a firm grip around the gift he gave the solar princess. He wouldn't give up, he couldn't… but he couldn't do anything. The princess behind him, moving threatening towards him, was still standing and walking on her legs. Silver had difficulties just being in the position he was in.

"I admit…" She said between her pants, her voice tired but angry. "You pull quite a punch. You're strong… very strong." Energy began to spark in her palms, darkness swirling around them. "But you are too strong. You are the trigger of destruction… the one who will lead to my people's doom." Her hands moved to her chest, a ball created as she rotated them around and her hair waved around because of its power. "And it's my duty to prevent that… from happening."

Just as she was about to throw the ending attack on the male hedgehog, a bright light went between them and it distracted Nebula, her attack vanishing into thin air and a shout of "Stop!" echoed in her ears. She opened her eyes and gasped at the sight of the apricot echidna in front of her.

"I won't let you harm him!" She scolded, her arms spread out in a defensive manner to protect her albino friend. Her cobalt eyes were stern and angry, slight narrowed at the violet hedgehog.

"Tikal?!" She said in great surprise. Her eyes narrowed even more, her expression showing nothing but the disgust her heart felt towards the princess. Nebula became angry and her eyes were furious. "Get out of my way, Tikal. This is my mission! Stay out of it if you know what's good for you!"

She showed her white pure teeth and shook her head. "Absolutely not!"

Nebula growled at the echidna princess. What was her problem? First she tried helping her in finding this hedgehog, and now she is defending him!

Tikal twisted her head around, her expression showing misery and worries. Feeling the Chaos Energy within the hedgehog, she had an idea.  
><em><br>'Get away, Silver. Flee.'_

Her voice got into his mind and he had no idea how Tikal was able to bring her own voice inside his head. It just kept echoing. _'I will keep her distracted and you take your chance of escaping.'_ He made eye contact with the echidna and he felt her worries in her sweet eyes. _'Please. I can't bear to see you like this.'_ He grunted highly as he took to his chest, his eyes returning to a shut state.

The ancient princess turned back to the lunar one, her dreadlocks rising into the sky and her body being illuminated in orange brightness. "Chaotic Terror!" Powerful blows hit the Lunarion in her guts and send her flying into the pool all the way on the other side of their current position. Although Tikal regretted deeply of attacking her former friend, she had seen no choice in distracting her. She hurried to Silver, who had been in awe by her power but was on the floor all worn out. "Don't worry, Silver. I should be able to heal your wounds completely with this technique. As long as I am not interrupted."

Gently pulling the hedgehog down on his back, the presence of Chaos filled the inner guardian's soul. She took a deep breath before moving her hands out and her eyes closed. "The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart." A glow appeared around her hands and the same glow covered the male's body as he floated a few inches above the ground. "The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos. The Master is I;" The glow grew brighter and her eyes opened. "Chaos, heed my call!"

His eyes shot wide open as the energy entered his body and he fell to the ground after a hard amount of coughing. But he felt as fresh as the morning sun.

"Silver!" For a second, she thought she had failed to heal him. She went to his side, holding around his body and helped the hedgehog to his feet. Her mind was filled with worries as she watched the hedgehog holding to his chest and leaning in over his own body.

"God! *cough, cough* That was some juice you gave me, Tikal. *cough*" He hissed and took deep breathes. Having not tried to be healed before, Silver found this method rather… uncomfortable. "How did you do it?"

"Oh, Silver." She said and hugged the hedgehog. He was surprised at her action and blushed. "You're okay." She released seconds after, a pink colour visible on her own muzzle. He was smiling goofily at her, taking a step back in nervousness. The splash sounds behind him made him jerk around. His mind began boiling as he watched the princess pulling herself up from the water. As he took a menacing step towards her, Tikal held him back. "Let me take care of this. You find shelter. And I believe…" Her expression was filled with misery as she picked up the golden bracelet that was on the ground. She held it out to Silver. "You need to find… your love."

His heart pumped faster at that remark and he looked up after the girl dropped the bracelet in his palm. She looked miserable, as if she wanted to be his love.

_'Aww, man. Why does every girl go after me?'_ He groaned lowly before tightening his grip around the golden object.

He sighed. "Thank you, Tikal. And don't worry." He placed his hand on her shoulder and the ancient princess blushed as she stared into his golden orbs. "I may not be the one for you, but I do know that someone will be yours. And he will love you just as much as you… love me, I suppose." He was rather awkward but the girl was cheered up, which was what he was trying to do.

"You really think?" She asked hopefully. Silver nodded before walking slowly by her. "Thank you, Silver."

He made a small salute and winked to her afterwards. Groaning was heard and he knew who it was. "I suppose I should get going."

Tikal nodded and waved him away. "Don't worry, Silver. Go and find Blaze, I will handle Nebula."

Now it was Silver's time to nod with determination in his eyes. As he saw the girl before him went into a red spirit ball, his powers flared up and cyan glow covered him as he lifted off. The purple watched on as he was escaping and in desperation, she fired a purple energy orb towards him. Light suddenly emerged from orb as it was stopped in mid-air. Tikal, having been covering the male hedgehog, was returning to her solid state and she held the energy orb the dark princess threw, the ball growing smaller and smaller the closer the ancient one neared the ground. With a thumb, she was on her feet and her dreadlocks fell against her skull. She looked sad.

"You were on the hunt for Silver to kill him this whole time." Her voice was filled with misery. "How can you do such a thing?"

She closed her eyes for a second before reopening them, looking at her hand curling into a fist. "He will cause devastation to my world and end my people!"

The cobalt eyes that belonged to the ancient echidna widened. "That's total madness! It's completely rubbish!" She pointed a finger at the dark princess. "Silver would never do that! He is too kind and he fights for justice, not against it!"

Nebula had taken her hands to her head before throwing her hands down again. "But it's true! I saw it with my eyes through a Chaos Emerald!" Her eyes shot daggers at the echidna and she had gasped at the mentioning of the Gem of Miracles. "In the near future his actions will condemn all of us in the Sol Dimension! So I must-"

"No!" Nebula looked up, the cry bringing her away from her outburst of anger. She looked into Tikal's hurt eyes, misery and guilt filled her soul. "I… I don't believe it. It can't be true." A small tear managed to slip through her shut eyelids. She reopened her azure eyes, anger and disgust showing up. "Even if it was… I can see why you do this, but consider what you in reality are doing. You want to take the life of a man who wants to bring good to the world and keep it at peace. The choice between Silver and the world… I would choice Silver any day!"

Her hands were fists and she glared at the princess for a second as she turned around before setting of in a sprint, tears dropping from her eyes.

Nebula was touched and a lot of thoughts entered her mind. Tikal was right. The princess was in deep guilt and took to her arm and stroking it. Her eyes closed slowly and then they tightened. She ran away. She needed time, time to think through this, to make her choice.

….

"Eggman! I should've known the other Sol Emerald was hidden beside you!" The crocodile growled, his hands turned into fists and he literately showed teeth with narrowed eyes. The others had taken the same position, but Marine jumped up and hit the alligator right on top of his skull.

"Ya idiot! It was supposed to be a secret!"

The scientist, having his hands folded in front of him, raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Sol Emerald? What should I do with Blaze's emeralds?" He stood up and had his hands now behind his back. "If I had one, I'd had to cross dimensions, and believe me, that's not an easy task."

"You liar!" The bee shouted, trying to get to the bald man but the chameleon had taken him by the wings and Charmy was swinging his arms around. "You destroyed the Festival of Soleanna last night and managed to kidnap Blaze right before Silver's eyes! And because of that, the emeralds are now scattered all over the planet all thanks to you, mister bald nose hair!"

Eggman raised his eyebrow in confusion. "What are you talking about? I did that once, three years ago, yes. But why should I repeat history and fail at capturing Elise and getting hold of the Flames of Disaster once more?" He walked around the table, his hand sliding against the white object.

"Repeat history? Whaddya mean by that?" The crocodile asked as he had his fisted hands on his skin.

"Why should I tell you, Detective Vector? Figure it out yourself." He sat down on his chair, folding his hands over one another. "But while you're at it, I could use some of your skills to get what I need. I will reward you." He had an evil smirk on his smile.

The alligator's eyes narrowed. "So you say. What's the price of us doin' you filthy job, Robotnik?"

Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik turned to the far away open hall. "Cubot! Orbot! Bring in the… reward." He said and turned back at his foolish enemies, a devilish glare meeting the head of the Chaotic Detective Agency.

"Right at ya, boss!" The yellow squared robot, Cubot, had this rectangular grey box. The chaos detector went off the scale, which caught the attentions of the foursome. "Wow!" The robot tripped over his invisible feet and the box was flying sky high. "Uh-oh."

"You idiot!" The round one said, quickly rising to his feet and threw himself out in the open air, sliding across the floor and caught the box. He stood up and dusted himself off. "Do you have any idea what could've happened if it shattered? A catastrophe!" He shouted, his face becoming all red.

"Sorry, boss." Cubot said, his expression miserable and sad.

Soon came a little red round robot in, his blue lines that was his eyes glowing up. "You must be more careful, Cubot. An object as strong as that emerald could cause destruction if it was shattered."

"Emerald?" The raccoon girl said in surprise, taking to her pocket where she had hided the red gem of hope away. It was warm down there. Very warm. Marine squinted her eyes at the doctor. "What emerald do you 'ave?"

Eggman opened the small box. "I believe you are interested in this beauty." A strong green glow emerged from the box, blinding the lot of the mobians. "A Sol Emerald."

"So you were lying." The chameleon said with hidden irritation. "Why are you interested in the Sol Emeralds, Doc?"

Robotnik waved his finger. "I am not. I just happened to find this gem in the landscape this morning." He looked smirking at them. "Then I thought it could be a valued object to add to my collecting. Of course, if you bring me a few of the Chaos Emeralds, I shall give this to you."

Vector huffed. "Yeah, right. Like we're gonna risk our life just for one puny emerald. Come on, gang, we're outta here." Then he and the others turned around.

"What's in your mind?!" The girl shouted and jumped up on the green skinned reptile, holding the collar of his beige jacket. "We need that emerald!"

"Sorry, Marine. But one gem is not a good price when you work as we do." He took around her head and pulled her down. She was sad, miserable.

The voice of the scientist made them turn around. "Ah. But it's not the only thing you will get, Vector. I will pay you well if you give me what I want." Giving the box to Orbot, Eggman took the silver luggage from him and opened it. In was a bunch of cash, the money bills shining with beauty of the sun.

"Oh boy! Money!" The bee exclaimed and flied quickly toward the open silver suitcase. It closed right in front of his eyes and Charmy was forced to decrease his acceleration to a stop. He looked up and gulped. Eggman gave a death glare at the bee and Charmy sweat dropped before instantly flying behind Vector, who had moved forward to meet his new client.

"I will only give you the money if you complete my task."

"And how do we know ya won't end the deal? You've done that before, countless of times." He crossed his eyes and a glim of slyness was in his vermilion eyes. He had a small smile on across his face.

Eggman rubbed his chin for a second before sighing. He took out a few wads of bills from the luggage and threw them to Vector. "You will get more once I have at least two Chaos Emeralds." He said and placed his hand on the side of his round abdomen.

"Would ya look at that? Okay, Eggman, you gotcha self a deal." He let a thumb up before turning around and the gang followed him.

"Vector, I don't think it's wise to trust Doctor Eggman." The chameleon said as soon as they exited the room.

"Chill out, Espio. We got some money and I'm sure Eggman will give us our reward. He's learned his lesson of not messing with the Chaotix." He turned his attention to bunch of money, counting every one of them as his eyes turned into dollar signs. Espio groaned.

Marine ran up. "No matter what, we need that Sol Emerald. It before the money!" The raccoon demanded as she and Charmy walked side by side, going a bit slower as the higher ranked members moved faster.

Inside the room, however, Eggman was chuckling under his breath, his hand over on another as he was in his red chair.

* * *

><p><em>Katerina Talks! <em>

_I am sorry. I know I said I would have had it done by last weekend, but I was too lazy to finish it, plus I had a small block at the ending. But at least I have it. c:_

_Gosh, Chaotix. Why are you so dumb, Vector? Eggman will no doubt use you in order to collect as many Chaos Emeralds as possible. Now, dear readers, you may think why Eggman says he wants at least three Chaos Emeralds. Well, it's simple. He knows that the foursome aren't that stupid to go on a hunt for all the emeralds and deliver them to him, so he ask them to find a few of them. That and another reason, which I am not revealing until next chapter... perhaps. _

_Oh and that epic duel between Silver and Nebula. I loved that. But I didn't write the fight of them being dark, shadowstartigs did. However, I wrote the other battle scenes. And I am quite proud of them. ^^ I actually had this battle planned ahead since GothNebula, who owns Nebula the Hedgehog, and I role-played the fight over notes on deviantART. That does NOT mean that I do role-play. It's something I rarely do, and if I do, then it's only with close friends. _

_And uhh... the kissing scene. ^^ I really enjoyed writing that. I am a total hopeless romantic person. More or less. But I really loved it, and I bet Amy did too. I hope you did as well. _

_Lol. Silver and girls. Everybody just wants him. XD_

_Katerina Oestergaard_


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